Descend
by PaperPaws
Summary: Isaac's mom is out to kill him and Isaac wants nothing more than for all of these monsters and fears to end. [ Rated T for violence and gore ]
1. Beginning

_Stepping through patches of wet grass was a boy. He was searching for a toy that he threw for his cat to catch. The cat, however, didn't return after chasing the flying ball of dirty yarn and the boy only assumed the cat got lost. So, he decided, with his curiosity holding him high, to go search for both the yarn and his cat. He backtracked to where a small decent river was and shot a glance around to double-check for anything he might've missed. But yet again...Nothing. Until he noticed a tail peeking out of the water.._

Isaac looked up at the seeping light above him; it kissed his face all over with a warm sensation. Although, he knew he couldn't return to his room..Not anymore. His mother had apparently gone crazy, hearing a voice from beyond tell her to rid of Isaac's sinful life. As she willingly grabbed a kitchen knife and stomped to her son's room, Isaac panicked, aware of what she was going to do and ended up finding a trapdoor. With nowhere else to go, he jumped down into the dark depths below. Now here he was, staring upwards and recalling a past event involving his beloved pet: Guppy.

 _"There you are!" He shouted with joy, pulling Guppy out of the river. It was then that his shouts of joy turned into screams of shock as Guppy was torn apart by the impact of the water. He let go in fear and the body was taken away by the clear unforgiving river. Isaac didn't realize what happened to his cat and why it 'swam' away but, he immediately ran back to his house for his mother's help. She was watching Christian shows on television, as usual in her daily routines. Her eyes never looked away from the screen until poor Isaac ran inside. "Mama!" He cried, tears flowing down his pink cheeks. "Guppy went away in the river!" Isaac's mother, never quite the same since her husband divorced, shrugged off his pitiful cries and responded blankly with a "Guppy'll be fine." statement. Isaac blinked away his tears and rubbed some off of his face. "Really?" He asked with hope. "Guppy's going to come back?" His mother nodded and then, turned her attention back to the television. Isaac became more happier at the thought of Guppy walking in, just completely normal and they'd play again like they always do. He kept that thought to himself, going back outside to play for some time while he waited for his pet to return. But, Guppy didn't come back._

He could feel the tears building up in his eyes when he finished looking into the memory. Isaac tilted his head low and his eyes slowly went down, too as he curled into a ball and cried. He didn't know what to do next nor what to expect in a dimly lit basement with cobwebs and...Spiders? He jumped up to his feet and backed away. Oh, how he feared spiders. He watched them with caution and tiptoed his distance from them though, they seemed to follow him. One gave a terrifying gaze straight at Isaac and lunged forward, fangs shown through an open mouth. Isaac could just give a mere scream, standing still and waiting for the spider to bite him. Surprisingly, the tears that fell from his face landed on the spider and caused it to recoil in pain then, shrivel up and disappear into dust. Isaac, more confused than ever, approached the other spiders and cried more due to being frightened to go near them. His tears made it to them and they, too, shriveled up and disappeared. He was glad to have got rid of them and felt relieved to have destroyed a fear of his but, he wondered why his _tears_ killed the spiders. He thought it would've been impossible.

 _Nothing_ is impossible at this point. Isaac begun to take realization of that.

He wandered on to the next room, which had two other doors; a normal one like the first and a golden door that twinkled brightly with its colors. The middle of the room had a corpse, rotting with pieces of flesh hanging from its body. The eyes were closed and the body was still, making it seem most likely dead. Still, the sight of a corpse in the basement made Isaac sick to his stomach and he struggled to keep himself from vomiting. He also saw it stand up and open its eyes, full of empty sockets and blood that oozed down its face. It spotted Isaac all to quickly and made a run to him. "NonoNO!" Isaac yelled, breaking into a sprint to avoid the corpse. He thought it was dead; he thought it couldn't move. "Go away!" He told the corpse, shooting tears all around the floor. Fortunately, once the corpse stepped foot into the small pool of tears left on the floor, it melted like hot wax. The corpse let out a scratchy gurgle, looking down at its now-gushy lower body. After a few additional moments, it was reduced to nothing more than a useless pile of gooey skin. Isaac breathed heavily, looking upon what he-no, what _his tears_ had done. He managed to not just kill several spiders but also, a living corpse with the liquid from his eyes. _Could he have more power than he's known?_ Isaac heard the sound of doors opening; the two doors he looked at earlier. He didn't take attention to them and so, he didn't know that they closed on him before..

He decided to no longer worry about that for now and walked in the golden-door room. In there sat a pedestal and on that pedestal was a dice, red like blood. He carefully inched closer to it and poked it once. It didn't do anything strange; that was much pleasing to Isaac. He took the dice in his hands and smiled in relief. It was just like those old toys he had in his room before his mother took them away from him.

 _Mother?_

No...He had to be strong. Mother wants him dead. Nobody's here to save him now.

It's time for him to keep going.


	2. Loneliness Presence

The next room was filled with an awful amount of feces and rocks with no dangers in sight, unless the normal flies are considered as such. Isaac still kept his focus on them halfway across the room to make sure they didn't follow him, like the spiders did. Luckily, they flew around and seemed to not care of Isaac's presence. He was happy that at least one room wasn't a disaster filled with oddities.

The very next one made Isaac cringe at the very second he stepped in. There were two corpses up and wandering aimlessly; one with only a head and one without half of its body. The walking body was chubby with blood squirting out like a fountain of death while the head-corpse appeared similar to the corpse from the other room. This room, however, wasn't just a regular one; it was much more narrow and thus, Isaac was practically cornered. He didn't want to pass by them like nothing because then, they'd likely chase him. He had to think of a clear plan to get out of this. "Wait..." He said quietly, looking at the door ahead. He couldn't get through it even if he made it over there due to it being shut closed. There was possibly only _one_ way to get the door to open up...And Isaac would have no choice but to do it. He charged foward wifh what little courage was left in him and did what he had to do: cry. The head-corpse took this as a threat and floated dangerously close to shoot some of its own tears at Isaac. The tears were that of blood and reeked of the scent. It almost hit the scared boy though, he was lucky enough to dodge it. Isaac kept on crying to keep up the damage, his hands shaking wildly. This corpse was more difficult than the one he fought earlier and although this one was a floating head, it was pretty tough. But eventually, this corpse lost the battle of tears and exploded into chunks of flesh and blood. Isaac watched the other corpse left for any signs of attacking or aggressive behavior..But, there was none. He went closer to the corpse and then, it walked in the opposite direction. It held no brain nor head and so, it didn't know what else to do. Isaac cried some tears at it and yet, it stayed. He cried several more until the corpse fell down and exploded. His little heart couldn't take the so-called 'innocence' of the corpse. It was the only one that seemed neutral and suffered with its condition.

What a crying shame..

Isaac took a few minutes of his time to sit down on the cold wooden floor to ponder where he was heading to. There was no destination set in his mind, making him wonder if he was just trying to dig deeper. Or maybe escape his mother. He already went this far; he could hide behind a rock or in another room to avoid her if he really wanted to. But for some reason, he had to keep going. He felt another feeling, which was unfamiliar to him. It was like he could feel something rising inside of him, telling him to continue going for something or someone. It could be anything...

He let his hands slip lazily to his sides and scooted over to the edge of the wall, leaning on it. Taking a look at his surroundings, he saw a strange black item placed near the door he had to go through. Confused, Isaac forgot about relaxing in peace for a second and went right to the item. Upon closer inspection, the item was a bomb neither lit nor used. It looked like the perfect item for defense against whatever else was in the basement. He, with no pockets, couldn't take the bomb, though. He put his red dice on the ground and picked the bomb up. Then, he threw it at the wall, disappointed that nothing in the room could light it up. He picked back up his dice and advanced onwards.

The couple of rooms Isaac progressed through only made him feel much worse than ever. Littered with even more spiders, corpses and there were other monsters, too. Isaac had to eat the hearts of the frightening monsters just to live. He couldn't take this torture anymore than he was experiencing. The thoughts of suicide ran through his brain but, he missed his chance several times. The monsters and corpses could've finished the job for him.

Isaac wiped his face with his arm, covering it in his tears.

 _How much more can I take?_

...

He heard the distant sound of a door unlocking, snapping him away from his thought. There was one door with a lock that he passed by earlier. It wasn't unlocked in the first place and if it's the very door that unlocked now...Then, something must've unlocked it. Isaac scrambled to go for that one door, a few rooms away. He made it within moments and touched the doorknob, twisting it to check if what he believed was true. The second it turned, he pulled it open and ran inside, hoping the room was safe. To his surprise, it was by far the safest room Isaac encountered. Items were scattered across the floor with chalky writing under them. Placed in the room was what appeared to be a rag doll with a rope around its neck. If it weren't looking so lifeless, Isaac would try to leave the room immediately or attack it with tears. Its face and endless stare was creeping him out, though.

Besides that, there was a sign in front of it saying a friendly "Welcome!".

Isaac took a step back and stared at the doll, not trusting it one bit. For all he knew, the doll could be alive and opened the door to lure him into a trap. Because of that assumption, he attempted to talk to it.

"H-Hello?" He shyly said.

No response.

"Are you going to kill me?" He asked.

Still no response.

Isaac stepped over to the doll's side and sat down next to it with some hesitation. He gave a side-glance and sighed. "I'm so scared..." he whispered under his breath. "I'm so alone..."

The silence of the room bought a sense of calmness in the air and Isaac began to feel a little better. Nevertheless, he was alone and felt alone even near something close to resembling a human. Conversation was never his best strategy in the outside world; he didn't get to go to school and thus, he didn't make any friends. He was homeschooled for as long as he could remember. That's why this opportunity of being alone was a perfect set to entertain himself by chatting with a rag doll. It could help his sanity stay put for some time.

"Uhm, I...I'm Isaac." He said to the doll. "I wonder who you are.."

"...Are you lost, too? Or scared?"

"Is your mama after you?"

"Can you...Help me, please?"

Isaac shook his head.

"Maybe not.."

He took this time to observe the items and identify them to cease talking for a minute or two. There was a bomb, a dusty old silver key, an unknown pill and a card. Willingly, Isaac would choose the card if he held spare change. It was the one item that attracted his attention.

With no cents and sense, he sat back down near the doll and laid his back on the floor. One rest after awhile of going against cruel beasts couldn't hurt Isaac.

And that's exactly what he did.

Until...


	3. Someone Else

The wooden ground shook, waking Isaac up. The movement was a mere few seconds but very big, like almost to the point of a high-level earthquake. It scared Isaac enough to fill him with adrenaline and he jumped up, running out of the shop room. _What's going on?_ He thought, eyes as wide as marbles. Though the shaking stopped, he held onto a thread of worry and fear. Whatever or whoever caused the ground to shake must've been dangerous or possibly nearby. Isaac couldn't stay in one place for an eternity without murdering the last of his courage in cold blood. He just swallowed the fear and advanced foward from where he left off...Except he froze when he saw the door that he had to enter. The door had a threatening skull on top with red eyeballs glowing. The detail wasn't much to cower over but, Isaac noticed something else. There was the sound of stomping in the room..

And a feminine voice sobbing.

He ran in the room as fast as his legs allowed him and saw upon him; a creature who trapped a young girl in the corner. The monster was just about to jump up and squish her until Isaac caught its attention by yelling at it. Then, the creature went straight for Isaac. Attack after attack, they both fought for long, wishing for the other to fall in defeat. Isaac shot a ring of tears in defense and stepped back when it crashed down. It coughed up blood at him and he took a direct hit. Falling to his knees, he clutched the spot covered in its blood and his own. Apparently, the monster's blood can melt skin just as well as Isaac's tears can. Isaac became too distracted by his wound and the pain to see more of the monster's blood aimed to him. It landed on him all over and emitted a scream out of him. He saw the monster then, preparing a final attack to crush him and the colored canvas of his eyesight spiraled to black in an instant. Before his sight was gone, Isaac thought it'd be the end of him and that both excited and disappointed him. He was trying to save someone and failed..

/

Isaac regained conscience at a slow pace, taking his time to register what happened and where he was. The room's walls was splattered with the familiar color of red, pieces of what identified to be the monster was all over and...The girl from before was sitting down comfortably near him. She glanced at him and realizing he was awake, stood up and went to him.

"Hi. Are you feeling well?" She asked Isaac with a tone of concern.

Isaac, not knowing how to respond due to the hammering headache he suddenly felt, only groaned in response. He sat up, grabbed his forehead and tried to focus.

The girl frowned. "Oh my...This won't do. Stay right there, I'll be back." She said, walking away. She approached a red, gooey item in the room and picked it up carefully, returning to Isaac's side quickly. "Eat this, please. It'll help you feel better.."

Isaac took the item in his arms and took a bite without thinking what it was. The taste was plain and lacked a flavor but besides that, it actually made him feel energized. The headache disappeared and the wounds closed in on themselves, surprising him. "Ah! How did that-...?" He stuttered, interrupting himself.

The girl sighed in relief, brushing a lock of her golden curly hair away from her face. "It's what I call a "yum yum heart". It assists in the process of healing." She explained. "So, you're okay for now.."

Isaac gave back the heart to her, shrugging. "I've ate hearts, too. I know what they can do." He replied.

"Oh but, you don't know what this one is capable of! No matter how many times you eat it, it never runs out or ends. It can be used as long as you go through some monsters with it." She said, cheerfully.

"Uh, nice...? By the way, what's your name?" Isaac said.

The girl smiled warmly. "It's Magdalene..." She answered happily. "Thanks for asking!"

Isaac nodded and began to get up. He saw something within a short distance and thought on whether to observe it or not. His answer was found when Magdalene went to go look at it.

It was a trapdoor, similar to the one Isaac found hidden under his rug. He blankly stared down it for quite awhile...Until Magdalene bought him back to 'reality'. "Excuse me!" She spoke directly. "Are you thinking of going down there?"

Isaac shook his head although, he was planning to jump down one way or another. He had nowhere else to go.

"I can see from your eyes that you're lying.." Magdalene said, adjusting the bow attached to her hair. She then looked at the yum yum heart and squeezed it lightly. "All we can do is go down and see what happens...So, let's just do it."

Isaac glanced from the trapdoor to Magdalene and back again to the trapdoor. The corner of his eye spotted an empty pedestal but, he chose to ignore it.

Magdalene flung open the door and...Waited. Thoughts raced across her mind and many doubts to fill in. She couldn't do it, not again. The jump could either be a lucky fall or an instant death.

That's why Isaac risked the chances and fell down below.

"W-Wait for me!" Magdalene said, seeing Isaac fall and following along.


	4. Of Bows and Eyepatches

"How did you get here..?" Isaac asked Magdalene, the two looking above where they once were. The second part of the basement was much darker with less light and more dust and ashes. Not to mention that it appeared dangerous compared to the normal-looking first part and there was rotting wood that replaced the regular wood flooring and walls.

"Well, I fell down here with you. How else could I have gotten right here?" Magdalene responded.

"No!" Isaac said, a small frown forming on his face. "I mean...How did you get to this basement? Have you been here this whole time, in the trapdoor under my rug?" He questioned.

"I can't seem to remember.." Magdalene answered, tapping her cheek.

"Okay...Just asking." Isaac replied, politely.

The two checked their surroundings, two doors only catching their eyes. One in the north direction and one on the opposite of the northern door. Seeing as how they weren't sure which one to go through, they chose at random and went for the southern door.

The cries of a nearby individual struck Isaac and Magdalene with curiosity. The source; a rather fairly-sized creature who was lumpy in the face and head with clear tears streaming down, saw the two and made a run for the closest corner of a wall that it could find. "Something that finally isn't a threat?" Magdalene questioned. "Thank goodness.."

Isaac brushed off Magdalene's comments and took easy steps toward the sobbing creature. When as close as he could get, he reached out a hand and tried to smile, despite having been through tough moments so far. "Hi..I'm I-Isaac." He said, before the creature went to an escape route of its own once again. It slipped past Isaac without going through him by keeping little distance between the walls and ran.

"Oh.." Isaac said, sadly. "It's too scared.."

Magdalene went ahead and tried getting near it, but then another figure scrambling to tackle straight into Isaac caught her eye. She turned her head to look at it and gasped. "Hey! Look out!" She yelled, aware that she didn't know Isaac's name. It would have bought in Isaac's attention much quicker because this time, he reacted more slowly and was too late to dodge. The monster, resembling the crying one but with a bomb on its head and blood oozing out of its wound, came in contact with Isaac and exploded. The short explosion urged more of them to appear and go to Isaac just to suicide themselves. There were only three more although, Isaac knew they were deadly enough as one. The first explosion gave him a shock and some damage to his body. The next three he didn't want to feel so, he made a crazy sprint all throughout, attempting to fight them back with tears. Magdalene did the same to help him out, shooting her tears to the monsters.

"How did more of them come? I didn't see anymore of them until now!" Magdalene said, her surprised expression beginning to spread.

"Don't know!" Isaac answered. "I w-wasn't looking!"

The three monsters weren't giving up the chase with ease, but they did once one of them exploded. It hit the two and they exploded as well, creating a bigger explosion. If Isaac or Magdalene was closer, one of them or perhaps both could've just experienced more pain than the other smaller explosion caused.

"Made it?" Magdalene asked, making sure Isaac was alright.

"Yeah.." He replied.

"Good! I hope you learned something from this." Magdalene said, approaching the creature who was alive and unharmed, trembling in fear.

"Uh...No? What?"

"This!"

Magdalene blinked tears at the monster, who cried out and exploded within a few seconds.

"Never trust anyone." She simply stated, rubbing her eyes.

Isaac stood quiet and watched the wall where the creature was at. This very minute, he could scream, cry, run from Magdalene or even kill her. He chose neither. He didn't know what to do.

That crying creature he knew wasn't dangerous and yet, Magdalene murdered it without a shred of worry.

"C...Can we just go?" He finally choked out after the deafening silence began to scare him.

"Sure." She spoke, walking into another room with Isaac closely following behind.

They both encountered black slimy monsters jumping in synth and regular flies in the corners where they did nothing but fly. Isaac saw how the slimy monsters' attacks didn't aim directly at him and hesitated to hurt them. Magdalene, however, finished them off without his help. Regardless of Magdalene's actions, Isaac thought of whether to trust her or not. She did say 'not to trust anyone'.

Back to what was going on; several rooms were monster-free with mere rocks and poop. Others contained one or more of those creatures that varied in appearance. Magdalene was getting tired of this. "Why can't this be easy?" She asked, not to Isaac in particular. Isaac looked upon another golden door so, he didn't have to pay attention to her complaints. He went inside without her saying and expected a pedestal with an item on it. What he got instead was way different.

In the center was an empty pedestal and a boy with an eyepatch, a gold ring on his left ankle and..A wired coat hanger through his head. He was desperately pulling at it to get it out but, every movement it made increased his pain.

"Ow OW! Bad idea.." He said, tears building up at the edges of his eyeballs. He completely ignored the fact that Isaac was in the room, staring at him with shock and confusion.

"N-Need help?" Isaac spoke, eyes wide.

That was then that the eyepatch boy acknowledged Isaac's existence. He threw a harsh scowl at the other, shaking his head. "No." He said, anger rising. "Mind yer own business, kid!"

As he watched the boy struggle, Isaac refused his warning and went to help pull the wired coat hanger out. With his help, they both accomplished nothing. Except for making it worse and deepening the pain in the boy's skull.

"AGH! It's no use, then."

The boy poked the sides of the wired coat hanger.

"This damn thing isn't going to come off.."

Isaac sighed. "I tried." He said. "Sorry.."

The boy shrugged and gave Isaac a small pat on the shoulder. "Don'tcha worry 'bout it. It doesn't concern you...But, thanks for trying." He responded, calmer than earlier.

"So, who are you?" He added in.

Isaac blinked, then stuttered out his name. Introducing himself was difficult to him now that he got used to the company of Magdalene, who he didn't seem to trust.

"Isaac? Well, that's a good name for someone like you." The boy said. "The name's Cain, by the way! Nice to meet'cha."

He held out an arm as a friendly gesture and Isaac took it, both of them shaking hands.

"Excuse me!" Said the familiar voice known as Magdalene's. "Am I interrupting something?"

The two boys jumped at the sound of her voice and ended their hand-shaking. Cain gave her a funny look while Isaac went right to her side. "Sorta. B-But now, we're done.." Isaac answered, eyes focusing on the floor.

"Okay. Who's he?" Magdalene said with suspicion, squinting at him.

"Cain. Who are you, sponge-hair?" Cain said with the same tone of suspicion.

Magdalene grabbed at her hair and huffed. "Why I never! That's NOT how you treat a lady!"

"I never was a gentleman." Cain replied, chuckling afterwards.

Isaac glanced at the two and spoke: "Are we going to stay here o-or-?"

"No. We're going, 'Isaac'." She said, turning around to leave. Isaac's name being mentioned by Magdalene surprised him pretty well.

"Oh and you can go walk the plank, Cain!" She said additionally before stepping out of the room. She heard Cain make a noise and speak many swears once she said that. But, she didn't expect him to run after her with a burning rage.

"I'm not a pirate!" He yelled, angrily waving his hands.

Magdalene ran, not wanting to be caught in his rage. Meanwhile, Isaac kept his usual pace and stopped Cain in his tracks. "Wait!" He said. "Don't hurt her!"

"Why?" Cain asked, fiery rage still burning in his eyes. "Is it because she's a girl?"

"It's because you just shouldn't! You're mad and that mood makes people do things like this! You...You should be..Happy?"

Cain held in a laugh. "What? Is it even possible to be happy here?" He questioned.

"Fake it." Magdalene said from a distance. "It's what I do!"

Cain rolled his eyes, obviously not amused with that suggestion. "Like I'd do that...Pfft. Nah."

Isaac smiled when hearing his sentence. Cain wasn't mad anymore. Just...Annoyed.

He went to continue his aimless journey.

"Hey, Isaac! What are you doing?" Cain asked, following him. Magdalene followed but, kept distance.

"Going on." Isaac said. "It's all I can do so far."


	5. Familiar

Before they knew it, Isaac, Cain, and Magdalene stood in front of a skull door. To Isaac and Magdalene, it meant to fight off another giant creature but to Cain, it meant something great. "A chance of getting useful items and valuable knick-knacks after defeating the monster!" He said, rubbing his hands together.

"And here I thought you wouldn't be _that_ kind of person.." Magdalene said in disappointment.

"What?" Cain questioned. "Riches are what I've always been searching for!"

"You're a greedy greed person, aren't you? Wanting to hog up every penny.." Magdalene replied, putting on her best 'not taking this nonsense' face.

Some form of snickering was heard for a brief amount of time when Magdalene said that. All three didn't know where that sound came from but, they didn't care enough to go look. Except for Isaac but, Cain kept him back. "It's not important, kid." He said to Isaac, pushing him gently.

Magdalene placed her hands on her hips. "Calling Isaac a kid? Look at yourself! You're a kid just like us!" She spoke with annoyance.

"So? That doesn't mean that I CAN'T address anyone how I want! Yer just being rude!" Cain replied, countering her words. "Anyhow, let's go in already! I'm getting bored of yer complaining."

Magdalene remained silent and pushed her way through to walk in the room first. She also did so to give Cain a hard shove while going past him. The little movement had a big impact, almost sending Cain on the edge of destroying her. But, he contained the anger to take it all out on the monster and ran in. Isaac was the last one to enter.

The monster emerged out out of the ground when the three went in, coming their way. All three of them split up and ran in different directions to see the monster's reaction. It emerged a second time after digging down and spat a gooey substance that exploded upon contact with the floor. Isaac jumped from one place he was standing in to another, shooting his tears. It didn't had as much effect as Cain's tears were making, though. At one point, the monster looked about ready to surrender. But, the look was a false prediction and it fooled Magdalene, damaging her badly.

"OOF! W-Wha-?" She coughed out, holding onto her new wound placed directly on her right shoulder. The monster striked again and Magdalene dodged but, fell down as she did. She became stunned and struggled to get up.

"Magdalene!" Isaac shouted, running to her side. Cain, in the meantime, fought the monster to keep it distracted.

"I'm fine..." She said, smiling weakly. "It's just a wound.."

"It's deep.." Isaac said, touching it lightly.

Magdalene flinched from the small pain that Isaac caused from touching it and nodded. "I know. I got my yum-yum heart here to help me." She replied, raising it up. She took a bite and the wound became smaller. However, it didn't go away.

"It's not working...?" Isaac asked, worried about Magdalene's condition.

"It doesn't heal deeper wounds...But besides that, I do feel a little better." Magdalene said. She got back up and stomped her foot on the ground. "Let's defeat this thing." She said confidently, going after it.

Isaac followed close and watched them both finish it off quickly. He was going to lend a hand or in this situation; eyeball to triple the damage...But, it seems that they were doing fine without him because they finished the job pretty fast.

"Phew! That took longer than I thought..." Cain said, wiping sweat and tears off of his face. "This wired coat hanger through my head really paid itself some use.."

Magdalene, noticing Isaac standing there in silence, smiled at him. "Hey." She said happily. "Thanks for at least watching our victory.."

"No problem..." Isaac spoke, the very sight of a pedestal appearing within his eye range. He hesitated to get to it until Cain assured him that he should take the item. "I would take it...But, I feel like you should have it." Cain said.

"Not being greedy right now? That's a relief..." Magdalene teased, smile turning into a smirk.

"Shut it." Cain responded, scowling at her.

Isaac went right to the pedestal, hands reaching for the item. But as quick as he reached out, he put his hands to his sides. He found it best to look at the item first before grabbing at it. Upon closer inspection, the item was of a grayish white fetus, wearing a soulless look on its facial expression. Isaac was immediately creeped out by it but nevertheless, he reached for it. The spectral 'friend' began to move and lazily floated to Isaac's side. Finding it quite strange, he was going to attack it...But, he didn't see it attack him. He decided to leave it alone.

"Trapdoor?" Isaac and Magdalene heard Cain say, who was in fact, near a trapdoor. "Should we go down?"

"Not yet!" Magdalene said, suddenly nervous. She pressed two of her fingers together. "Let's take a break."

Isaac was usually about ready to jump down again and fight but this time, he agreed with Magdalene. He was beginning to feel tired and a break couldn't do any damage, he knew.

The three backtracked to where there was a safe bonfire and sat down, enjoying the warmth on their skin.

Here they could rest and relax for as much time as they needed...


	6. Small Talk

Isaac fell asleep instantly after laying down on the floor, his familiar laying on top of him gently. Magdalene and Cain stood awake for awhile as they weren't as sleepy as Isaac.

"...Quiet here, isn't it?" Cain said to Magdalene suddenly.

Magdalene, not a good friend of his at all, ignored him and watched the flames dancing on the bonfire. She could care less if he got angry.

But surprisingly, he didn't. He kept on talking to her, willingly.

"Has it ever came to mind to give up? For me, it has. I don't know how long it's been since I was here and every progress I make further doesn't create sense. I'm sick of all this." He muttered, not caring if Magdalene heard him or not. "I mean...What's the point?"

Magdalene picked up her yum-yum heart that she placed next to her and got up, walking away from Cain and Isaac without a word spoken. She has caught a few of Cain's words that he said and didn't want to hear anymore of it. She went all the way back to the skull room and slowed down her pace even more when she got near the trapdoor. When directly beside it, she opened it up and looked down. The sound of feet running went from low to louder in a pinch, startling Magdalene to the point that she almost fell down. She glanced to the door and saw Cain standing there, glaring daggers at her. "Oh c'mon! Yer really going now?" He said, angrily. "Fine then...Leave."

"..."

"Well? What are you waiting for?"

"..."

"Just go already!"

"I can't!"

Magdalene closed the trapdoor and fell to her knees, burying her face in her hands. She let out a whimper, sounding on the verge of crying.

Cain always thought Magdalene was a strict and mean type of girl because of the way he met her and her actions when he was with both Isaac and her. Seeing her all sad had softened his anger and he sighed deeply, going to her side. "Why not?" He asked. "Are you scared of the unknown?"

Magdalene uncovered her face, looking away from Cain in a flash. "Yes..." She spoke.

"Me too. But, do we have a choice?" Cain said, frowning.

Magdalene shook her head automatically.

"Exactly! So, there's nothing we can do. Just be happy that you are not the only human down here to suffer.." Cain stated.

He then flipped his eyepatch, revealing a stitched socket. "...Look. I lost my eye to one of those damn smaller monsters and you don't see me complaining about it. I just fixed it up and went my way. If you lost an eye like me, would you do the same as I did?"

"No." Magdalene said, sniffing. "I can't keep my emotions in forever...Like you..."

Cain chuckled under his breath, ruffling Magdalene's hair in a friendly gesture. "Correct." He said, hissing the word out.

Magdalene grabbed at her hair and finally gave a look at Cain, who didn't have a good expression set upon his face. "Oh? Um..You might want to not bottle up those emotions for eternity...You could only bring more pain to yourself if you try to hide it." She said.

Cain shrugged and flipped his eyepatch back to the way it was. "I can live with that." He replied, blankly.

Getting up and beginning to make the walk back to the bonfire area, Magdalene gave a shrug back and gestured for Cain to follow her. He did with no refusal and walked by her side.

"Say...What's yer name again? I could've sworn I heard Isaac mention it.." He said, on the way back.

"Magdalene." She answered.

Cain smirked, stretching his hands foward. "Can I call you Maggy?"

"No thanks, eyepatch."

"Alright...Heh."

The two were right back to where they were before in an instant snap. They sat down and came to enjoy the silence for quite awhile.

Soon they, too, fell asleep like Isaac did.


	7. Blind To All

The faintest smell of wood burning was lingering in the air..But, Isaac was not where he was before. Instead of the comforting scenario of seeing his friends and the spectral familiar while feeling the share of bonfire warmth, he saw emptiness. The emptiness itself had a color, one of a dark purple and it appeared like a haze.

There was additionally a pain of being restrained cruelly and Isaac found out the source quickly; chains.

Rough dull-gray chains held onto his arms, legs and neck, placing him in an uncomfortable state. Wherever the chains sprouted from, they didn't seem to end. They kept holding on and wouldn't let go. Isaac, confused in this situation, tried to struggle his way out of the mess. Alas, he was faced with the chains wrapping tighter, choking a cough out of him. Now with less air, he allowed his eyes to produce the same tears that kill, the stream of it heading down to the unknown. He let himself cry out into the emptiness, opening his heart up to vulnerability. He was emotionally and physically broken because of the hope draining from his body and onto his cheeks and the endless purple place. However, he knew one way to attempt to heal the shattered wounds of lost hope.

"Why am I here?" He questioned to whoever may be listening.

"Why?"

"WHY?"

...

Then, he heard it. The quiet fragile voice cutting through the silence.

"Because you brought this upon yourself." It spoke. "Do you think you wanted this? Do you think it was an accident?"

Isaac's tears came down faster and he sniffed, wishing to wipe his eyes. "I-I don't know what you're t-talking about..." He replied, bending his fingers in the grasp.

The chains got even tighter.

"You must know what I speak of. You know. We know.." It said, tone never changing in the slightest. "How does it feel to travel with strangers? Didn't you want to die? Why didn't you listen to mother? ...All of these questions...You KNOW what I mean."

"I..D-Dont.."

"Oh? Honestly? With all of what's left of your strength?"

"...Y-Yes?"

Isaac almost felt the voice grin, like it was right in front of him. He heard it sadly chuckle and then, he lost his breath. As he was desperately trying to suck in air, the voice spoke again.

"You can lie to yourself, can't you? You've proven that. Too much.."

The place echoed the wailing that Isaac made, crying as he felt like his life was being dragged away.

"So, what will you do now? Die here..?"

The chains suffocated not only Isaac's neck but also, the blood flow in his veins on his arms and legs.

"Suffer an eternity where no-one's going to win?"

Isaac's eyelids slowly dropped down. This was it.

"Kill everything, everyone and anything to entertain your 'sanity'?"

His breathing was coming to a stop.

"Or perhaps turn the tables if you can?"

Inky darkness was merely left.

"The choice is up to you. If only you pay mind to the small details..."

/

Isaac's back stung with a numb pain and he rised to sit up, breathing heavily. He couldn't control himself and so, he screamed loudly, startling the blonde-haired female and eyepatch male. Isaac's familiar wasn't too startled to see him screaming.

Cain went to his side in a flash and so did Magdalene, both of them doing their best to calm him down.

"Isaac, everything's going to be okay! We're here for you!" Magdalene said.

"Did'ya have a nightmare? It isn't real in reality, y'know..You'll be fine." Cain said, patting Isaac's stinging back.

"Then..! What's real!?" Isaac yelled, beginning to sob.

Magdalene and Cain exchanged a look of sadness and concern in the soft sound of Isaac's crying.

But, he screamed again a few seconds later.

This wasn't from pain from his back that he was feeling or his emotions swinging out of reach.

This time, this scream was because he felt a strange presence.


	8. Prideful

Isaac, eyes red from the constant tears and his knees shaky, he sprinted to the trapdoor in the boss room and opened it up. All the while, his thoughts screamed throughout his head, causing him to feel the slightest of dizziness.

 _Get away! Something's there! Maybe it's from the nightmare!_

 _JUMP!_

Just as Magdalene and Cain ran inside, Isaac forced himself to jump down the trapdoor, the darkness consuming his figure. When Cain glanced down the open trapdoor, he couldn't see Isaac nor anything else in sight.

"I don't know what's up in the kid's head but, I'm going after him!" He said, jumping down with ease. Magdalene followed down close behind, not uttering a single word.

/

One may suspect the calm and breathable aura surrounded in this lower 'cave' would bring upon good luck and less monsters. It actually attracted the opposite of what was expected. There was the moist ground, filled with water and adding more of a chance to slip if not cautious. There was the distant call of unrecognizable noises, most likely by threatening creatures of all kinds. There was even small amounts of light left hanging around, almost like stars in the sky. The two were having their doubts about making it through this area in one piece.

"What about Isaac?" Magdalene said, holding the yum yum heart closer to her chest. "He could be dead by now for all I know..."

Cain crossed his arms, spitting on the ground. "I don't believe it. We must look for him, first."

Magdalene nodded in agreement and took off to a room with Cain following her. In there, they faced what they couldn't begin to have thought. The individual was looking quite gray with dark gray empty sockets and a mischievous grin upon his face. He stepped foward enthusiastically and shot a stare at the two before him.

Two poor suckers, to him.

"Heya, silly princess and pirate! What a treat for me to see two more stupid victims like you!" He spoke, licking his lips. "I can't wait to tear you apart.~"

"In your dreams, maybe!" Cain replied, his teeth gritting in anger.

Magdalene walked up to the soulless individual, setting an expression of amusement on his face. She reached out to him but, he stepped an inch back to avoid contact with her fingers.

"What's wrong with you, huh? You're a strange lady...Heh heh.." Said the gray guy, seeing her frown and then, drop her yum yum heart.

Cain went to her side, picking up her heart item for her. "Maggy?" He said, grabbing her chin and turning her head to face him. "What were you THINKING when you did that? Why'd you try to touch him?"

"I...I thought he was Isaac for a second.." She responded, sniffing.

Cain let her chin go and pat her head in an awkward attempt to comfort her. "I know you somehow already miss him...Don't worry too much, though! We'll find him.." He said.

"Isaac? You mean the dice kid with a ghost partner over there?" The gray guy interrupted, pointing where a body was half visible behind some rocks. It appeared to be still. "He's taking a 'nap' right now."

Magdalene gasped and Cain glared, both in some sort of shock.

"What did you do to him!?" Cain yelled, about ready to attack this abomination of a 'humanoid' creature.

"I did a trick and he went out like a lightbulb! How funny...I'll let you see the trick, too! Watch!" The gray 'human' answered, snapping his fingers. When he did, several lit bombs appeared throughout the room, many of them near Cain. Magdalene ran to a safer spot in the room in defense. However, Cain ran straight into the gray guy, punching his gut roughly. The impact lasted until the bombs went off, knocking Cain away from him.

"Ouch..Geez. Well, at least he got what he deserved." Said the gray guy, dismissing the pain he felt.

Meanwhile, Magdalene approached Isaac's unconscious body, spotting his familiar attempting to wake him up. She waved it away once she was next to Isaac and looked down at him. It's like she could see the terror in his face, even when he's knocked out. It looked that way.

"Oh?"

Magdalene froze, hearing the gray guy behind her.

"Is he your boyfriend or something?"

She spun around to see him, face twisting into anger.

"Aww, you're mad.~"

"And you're a different kind of mad, you psychotic freak!" She replied, tears forming in her eyes. Now was her chance to attack with those tears.

"WHAT!? Don't try to insult me, butterscotch! If I had my way, I'd show you right from wrong...Instead, I'll kill you. Got it?" The gray guy snapped back, preparing a stored attack.

Magdalene blinked her tears really hard at the gray guy, not waiting for him to attack any longer. Then, she backed away and kept on attacking with her tears for as long as she could. All the while, the gray guy struggled to fight back. He summoned bombs, shot lasers and chased the blonde girl around, desperate to win. But, he was losing little by little and he shouted out in frustration.

"Why can't you just DIE!?" He said, angrily.

"You thought it'd be easy? No..We may not know how long we were in a basement but, we do know our own strength!" Said Cain, not entirely knocked unconscious. He sat up and paid no mind to his aching wounds made by the bombs. "If anything, you should surrender!"

"Me? The one and only Pride? Hah! You're having an underwater effect for saying that! Bluhbluhbluh!"

"Don't be ironic, smartass. We're in a flooded cavern."

"No pun intended! I mean it."

Cain snickered. "So, yer name's Pride?"

"Don't forget it!"

"I will! Thanks for reminding me!"

Pride groaned and snapped his fingers once again, summoning a set of bombs all in a circle around Cain. That's when he smilied, knowing he sealed Cain's fate. Cain was, after all, too weakened to stand up and run off.

However, he forgot about Magdalene, who was sneaking up on him. When seeing that Cain was suddenly in danger, she rushed foward, pushing Pride with all of her strength down to the ground. Then, she proceeded to throw punches at him while her angry tears landed on his stomach. At first, he endured as best as he could of the waves of pain torturing his essence and everything else of him. But he knew his end was coming to a close and so, he laughed. He cracked a forced grin and kept on laughing until his throat burned and the rest of him. He choked one last word before disappearing;

"I'll be b-ack..."

Magdalene jumped up, brushing her knees gently with her fingertips. She didn't seem too bothered by the comment but, she was once she gave it a second thought. Going over to the wounded eyepatch boy, she helps him up to his feet and gives him a casual slap in the face. He shouts a pained yell and squints at Magdalene.

"What was that for?" He said, touching the spot where she slapped him.

"For calling me Maggy when I told you NOT to!" She replied, scowling at him. "But...I suppose I should thank you as well. For using some effort to destroy the madman.."

Cain stuck his tongue out to mock her words and shrugged. "Whatever. Still suits you better than 'Magdalene'. Anyway, I should be thanking you, too. You saved us from the gray weirdo mostly and...We would've maybe died without you..?"

Magdalene sighed. "Yeah...I did, didn't I? I'm glad that's over.."

She and Cain walked right to Isaac's unconscious body and did their best to hold him up, the familiar curiously floating around.

The remaining rooms awaited them.


	9. Lazarus

Black. White. Rings of colors.

Then life.

Isaac regained consciousness much swifter, his body not hurting as it typically does when he wakes up. The single view of his familiar staring at his pupils brought him immense relief as he sat up and tried to poke its small forehead. His finger went straight through the head and to no avail, the spectral friend couldn't be touched. Isaac instead flashed a greeting smile at the dead baby and it almost smiled back.

"Isaac!" Called the voice of Cain, his figure appearing upon him. Cain wasn't too optimistic at the moment. "C'mon up and let's go. Maggy ran off after hearing someone shriek rather loudly.."

Isaac gave a positive nod and reached for Cain's hand. Cain shot his hand foward when noticing Isaac's gesture and helped him up to his feet and held on to him so he wouldn't stumble.

"Still frail?" Cain questioned, observing Isaac's wobbly movements.

"Y-Yeah...My body hurts." Isaac answered meekly.

Cain said no other words after that and led himself and the trembling boy to several other rooms, which were surprisingly empty. Considering that Magdalene went through them, it displayed that the two were following the right path. Few more of the watery rooms later and the two found what they assumed was Magdalene. Once closer, their assumption was incorrect and what was on their knees, clutching the side of a tattered brown cape on their back was another human, like them. This one had curly orange hair with freckles seen across their face. The most noticeable feature of the human was their white rolls of bandages wrapped around their wrists and stomach. The rest of their body had little scratches.

Cain knelt down next to the other human and placed his hand on their shoulder. They immediately whirled their head to the side and gave a half-glance to the eyepatch boy.

"Leave me..." They muttered, turning their head back to focus on the cold moist ground.

Cain removed his hand from their shoulder and stood by their side. "Honestly, do you care that there's others here besides you?"

They shook their head automatically. "Not anymore.."

Isaac carefully inched over to the front of the human and set down his dice. The human looked up to the pale face of another who was attempting a faint smile.

"Do you want to play with my dice?" Isaac asked, sitting down in front of the item.

"No thanks.." Replied the human, gently pushing it closer to Isaac. Then, they happened to spot the floating spectral fetus and that's when they scrambled away, shivering in fear.

"Sorry if you don't like him.." Isaac said, pointing at his familiar. "But, he's not bad. He's a friend."

The human refused to be near the fetus, even if 'he' was harmless like a house fly. They put their attention to their breathing to try calming themself down from their encounter with the dead fetus.

Cain recognized the actions of this human was similar to how Isaac acts and this forced him to ask a simple question; "Have you been the one screaming from afar?"

"Yes.." They say, sniffing. "I had a reason to scream, t-too.."

They cover their mouth with their arm to cough before continuing.

"Me and my partner Samson were wandering in these flooded caves...Everything was so scary to me but...Samson called me a crybaby and a wimp all throughout the trip. I do know he wanted me to stay near him, though..He's sorta nice when you get used to the name-calling..."

/

 _Samson tugged at his brown hair with his partner right next to him; the two had been exploring and beating monsters for quite some time. His partner suffered the consequences of being a huge coward and klutz, with many wounds on him. While he phased through the pain as best as he could, Samson eyed two doors and pondered on which one to go in. "Maybe this one!" He said aloud, heading for the one on the right. However, he stopped himself to watch his partner slowly catch up. "Hey, Lazarus! What's the holdup?" He said, a frown on his face. The partner Lazarus was about to respond to tell Samson that his wounds were aching but, he interrupted himself when he stepped on something hard. He took a peek downwards and regretted it as he screamed and jumped to the side. "What?" Asked Samson, glaring at him. He approached the spot where Lazarus was and saw a pile of skeletons on the ground. He kicked it twice and then, chuckled. "It's nothing, see? Just useless skeletons.." He said before watching them come to life and reach for Samson. "On second thought.." He roughly kicked them away. "I'm wrong."_

 _"Y-Yeah!" Lazarus replied, avoiding them without a single attack launched._

 _Samson thought of escaping with Lazarus through a nearby door although, he began to notice that he couldn't. The doors were locked shut, apparently. He groaned and clenched his hands into rage-filled fists._

 _Lazarus meanwhile, huddled up in a corner and cried. He wished with all of his heart for a way to help but, he just wouldn't move from his spot. That is until he heard a feminine voice coming from one of the closed doors._

 _"Is anyone in there?" The voice spoke softly._

 _Lazarus swallowed some of his saliva to wet his slightly dry throat and answered the question with a plain 'yes'._

 _"Oh! Are you okay?" The voice said, now more worried._

 _"I'm fine...For now.." Lazarus replied, shifting his gaze to the skeletons battling Samson._

 _"Good! I hope you make it out alive...For there's nothing I can do unless these doors open." The voice responded simply._

 _Lazarus nodded to himself and walked towards the fight; however, he stopped halfway. He didn't have much of the courage to join in and help. Trembling with nervousness, he stood in place, not moving an inch and kept viewing the brawl for some time. Samson won a minute or so later and crossed his arms, seeing the skeletons disintegrate._

 _"Good job helping..." He said, staring at Lazarus with a cold look._

 _Lazarus rubbed his arm in embarrassment, feeling disappointed that he couldn't assist. His attention though, was brought to Magdalene who entered the now opened room. She froze upon seeing Lazarus and Samson._

 _"Two?" She questioned._

 _"Yep! It's finally a pleasure to see another human here!" Samson said, frown turning into a grin._

 _Lazarus could merely stay silent._

 _"I feel the same way..But, I'm not the only one here and neither are you two! I have friends just this way.." She said, pointing in the direction where she came from._

 _"Great! Let's see them." Samson said eagerly._

 _Magdalene was prepared to lead the way, taking a step to the door near her. However so, a figure dropped down on the blonde girl, dragging her to the next room instead._

 _"Shit...! Hold on there, I'm coming!" Samson yelled, sprinting quickly to the room before it locked itself._

 _/_

"That's about it.." Lazarus finished up, fiddling with his hands awkwardly.

Cain scratched at his eyepatch, his mood at a state of disbelief.

"Sounds cliché, don'tcha think?" He spoke, sounding a tad suspicious.

"Maybe. But, I know what I saw!" Lazarus responded frankly.

"Either way.." Cain said, pulling Isaac up. "We should go look for them."

Lazarus rised to his feet and eyed the remaining doors cautiously. He felt that this time, he was going to throw out the cowardly feelings and charge straight on, to make up for not helping Samson in the first place.

He grabbed Cain's arm and ran.

Isaac reached for his dice and ran straight to their side, trying to catch up all the while.


	10. Author's note ( not a chapter )

Ah...I realized my mistakes in the chapters like the yum heart being the yum-yum heart and little grammar errors ( which was probably in one or more chapters )..

But anyway, I hope y'all are enjoying the story so far! It'd be nice if you could perhaps criticise it so, I can make improvements!

Thank you for reading and I hope you have a good day/night. :-)


	11. Seeking Them

The doors were wide open when Lazarus was speaking of the events that occured before his eyes. The duo had looked upon that speck of detail and were close to questioning about it. However, they knew Lazarus wasn't all brave and so, they decided not to begin the pointless questions.

"Wait!" The ginger-haired boy exclaimed, freezing in place. "They're not in this room..."

Cain coldly laughed, yanking his hand away from Lazarus. "You don't think they've disappeared out of thin air, eh? That would be ridiculous."

Neither Lazarus nor Isaac laughed along when he did.

Lazarus explored the short distance of the room, eyeing every corner for any sign of Samson or Magdalene. He saw none of them in the room, much to an unfortunate turn. His stomach twisted into knots while he double checked. Cain sat on the floor, seeing Lazarus struggle to hide his fear and Isaac helped out the ginger-haired boy, worrying about Magdalene and Samson's safety.

"You're not helping?" Isaac asked, spotting Cain on the ground.

"Nah." Cain replied, shrugging. "I would if there was a point in looking."

Lazarus paused his searching and scowled deeply at the eyepatch boy, who returned the glare without a second thought. Isaac glanced between their scowling and sighed.

"You don't like him.." He said sadly. "Is that why you're not helping?"

"More or less." Cain responded, leaning back a little. "I mean-the kid doesn't even care that we're here, I suppose."

Isaac looked at Lazarus, who was continuing his search for the two. He saw the boy's hands curl up and shake with anxiety and perhaps anger from what Cain stated.

"I think he cares! He's looking for his friends.." Isaac explained with a concerned frown.

Cain shook his head. "So?"

"..."

Isaac backed away from Cain and as he did, he edged nearer to Lazarus. He gave a look over his shoulder and spotted the ginger-haired boy, no longer searching.

"...

..

So! It matters..!" Isaac blurted out, stopping himself from backing away any further. "Maybe Magdalene would say so, too! I don't think she would give up when you and I are in trouble..."

Cain, amused of Isaac's words and determination, lifted himself up and stood on the wet ground. He didn't move foward, however and simply stood there, staring Isaac down. Then, he spoke.

"Good point."

Isaac stepped towards him, a weak smile settling across his pale pink skin. "Yeah...Will you help now?" He said, relief in his voice.

Cain gave a nod in his direction and began to pace casually around the room. There was nothing to be found by the eyepatch boy but, Isaac appreciated his effort of assisting in the situation. It was eventually that Cain moved on to another room by himself...With Isaac following along in his tracks. The rooms were the same with no monsters or strange creatures in sight although there was a long line of dried red liquid extending to the other rooms. Isaac guessed it was a path and notified Cain to try going on the path. Cain agreed and followed it all the way to where the path faded.

Isaac tilted his head up to the light of a door.

They made it to the boss room.

Isaac gazed thoughtfully behind him. He wanted Lazarus to join them in the boss battle but, was thinking that he wouldn't fight with them.

Though, Lazarus wanted to redeem himself through bravery.

Though, Isaac was already heading to where he was.


	12. Encounters

Lazarus shielded his eyes from the red light, not bothering to give a stare at it. He knew this was a boss room and it frightened him to step inside. But, with an encouragement from Isaac and a nod from Cain, he threw his fears aside for once and walked in cautiously.

"Ah! Lazarus?" Said a toughened voice, beginning to break. It was none other than Samson, fighting off a giant dismembered hand while he kept another monster away from Magdalene, who was knocked out. The boss room was even darker than the three had imagined.

"I could use a little help here!" The brunette impatiently claimed, snapping them to their senses.

"Sure thing! We'll-" Cain was saying before Lazarus spoke over him.

"E-Eh! I'll help! Alone..." Lazarus interrupted, hugging the sides of his cape tightly. Extra assistance was a good advantage to the ginger-haired boy but he wished to prove himself worthy of being brave one way or another. He balled his fingers altogether into fists and ran to the blood-covered hand. As he did, a voice called out and echoed throughout the room;

"ISAAC!"

Hearing his voice being called, Isaac's body shook violently and he came to know who was calling for him. The voice he used to trust. The voice that took care of him before trying to sacrifice him.

His mother.

Isaac laid on the ground, curling up into a fetal position. Warm clear tears escaped down his face when he revisited his memories. He did miss his old life where he played with his toys, drew pictures and read the bible with his mother at night. However, he knew he couldn't go back to it; not now and not ever. He was a sinful child who deserved to die at the hands of justice.

"Yes..." He muttered to himself. "M-Maybe this is good..."

He stood up, smiling at what he thought was his mother's filthy hand.

"I'm ready, mommy!"

He took giant steps to the hand struggling to bring Samson down. It saw Isaac growing closer with each step and it jumped off of the brunette, focusing on Isaac's movements.

"What are you doing, boy? Move away!" Samson yelled, frozen in place from being shocked.

"Y-You can do it!" Isaac spoke to the hand, tuning out Samson's desperate calls.

The hand took this as a chance to strike and jumped up, preparing itself to crush Isaac and end him.

Isaac closed his eyes and waited...

But, there was no pain.

Isaac opened his eyelids to seeing Lazarus punch the hand far back with all of his strength. The ginger-haired boy's fist stung with the aftermath of the powerful punch and he flinched, using his other hand to comfort the one in pain.

"Ow-OW!" He shouted, rubbing his fist. "I think I overdone it with that hit..."

"You sure had, Lazarus! I'm proud of you..!" Samson responded, grinning at him. "You're still a wimp in my eyes, though! Go finish that deceased hand for me, buddy!"

At that second, the actual enemy of the room attacked him and he tackled it in defense, tossing in a couple of blows to its head. This creature was a bloated humanoid with rotting pale green skin. Its eyeballs were sunken far back into its skull that it appeared to lack eyes at all. It flew upwards to dodge some of the hits on its 'horse', the animal having similar features to its rider.

Cain shuddered, grimacing from its chunky disgusting body. "This is like looking at the sun." He said, squinting. "It's difficult to even give a glance at."

Lazarus, too, grimaced from it. But a second later, he stopped and went to the hand that was taking its time to move around. He stood a mere few inches from it, watching it dig it's nails into the mushy ground in some form of frustration.

"You've done enough..." Lazarus spoke to it, cracking his knuckles. "So...Goodbye."

He gave it another strong jab, kicking it a couple of times to make sure it stayed down. Much to his happiness, the hand went limp and became nothing more than a flesh and bone pile. Lazarus' smile was small then, it grew when noticing his victory. With his silly smile and beads of sweat trailing down his forehead, he laughed like there was no tomorrow until tears built up in the corners of his eyes. Regardless of that, he continued laughing and let the tears fall down his smiling face.

Cain and Samson teamed up to push in the final hits to the green horse-riding humanoid. Samson did his punches and kicks while Cain messed with the wired coat hanger on his head to cry tears at the monster. Both ended up becoming successful in destroying it.

"Who knew crying actually solves problems? Not I, of course." Samson said, beginning to chuckle.

"Not all problems...Heh." Cain replied, fiddling with his eyepatch.

Samson paused his chuckling when spotting Lazarus, laughing by himself. Upon looking at him closer, he saw that he was sobbing more than he was laughing.

"Lazarus, you doing alright?" Samson asked, slipping his hand on the ginger-haired boy's shoulder. Lazarus swatted it off and sniffed quietly.

"I...I'm going to be okay." He answered, smile widening. "Really, I am. Thank you...For always being there for me. Even if you figured I'm a waste of a partner...Your words always manage to make me feel stronger, although they're insults.."

"Huh?" Samson said, a tug of confusion showing through. "That was motivational to you? Honestly, I thought I was being too harsh to you at those moments.."

He frowned, letting Lazarus' words sink in deeper. Then, he resumed talking.

"Know what? I shouldn't had doubted you from the start. You're a great partner with a big heart and I had a good time exploring these flooded caverns with you! Your sensitivity bugged me in the beginning but...I shouldn't had pushed you to change it. I'm sorry, Lazarus. I know that secretly inside, you're probably still mad at me..And I'm fine with it. Because of how I acted, I suppose I deserve some hate."

Lazarus was silent...Ten seconds...Twenty...It felt like an eternity.

Then he hugged Samson. It was a gentle squeeze, surprising the brunette and at the same time, making him feel calmer. He returned the hug back wholeheartedly.

"I knew you were nice, anyway. I enjoy your company too, Samson..." Lazarus said, hiding his face in the brunette's locks of brown hair.

When the hug became longer and awkward, Samson moved him off softly, crossing his arms as he let out a tiny laugh.

"Affection...Ew." Cain spoke jokingly, eyes shifting to Isaac, who was on his knees with a blank expression. He wondered how long Isaac was like that.

"Hey, kid." He called out to him. The spectral familiar tapped the boy, its hand going through him. Despite attempting to earn his attention, Isaac didn't respond. That's when Cain moved near him and gave him a shake.

"Hello? Are you there, Isaac?" He asked, a tad concerned about him.

Isaac's body twitched, his eyes producing never-ending tears. The boy was clearly losing at trying to get over hearing his mother's voice. He lowered his head, allowing himself to whimper.

"Isaac...What's wrong? Was it the bosses?" Cain continued his questions, the concern state getting more visible.

"I-It...Was...The v-voice.." Isaac choked out, starting to drown in his louder cries.

"That voice? Oh...It must've reminded you 'bout someone.." Cain replied. "But, who?"

...

Coming to a conclusion that Isaac wasn't going to answer the question right now, Cain left him alone and moved on towards Magdalene. She was gaining consciousness at a steady pace when he arrived by her side.

"Eat that heart thingy..." He said to her, picking it up and placing it right on her lips. She, not knowing what else to do, took a bite and rubbed her eyes.

"Hnn...Wh...How long have I been out..?" She slurred, shaking her dizzy head.

Cain shrugged, not knowing the answer either.

"All that's important for now is that yer ok...Do you need more rest?" He responded.

"No no..I'll do fine without more knockouts.." The blonde said, getting up to her feet. "How's Isaac?"

"He's not feeling well.." Cain replied, pointing at the boy crying and his spectral familiar doing its best to cheer him up.

"Ah..." She simply responded, her attention going to the pedestal that nobody took note of. She approached it, looking over the small details. Apparently, it was just a cube of meat.

She took it and it orbited around her instantly. She tried to bite it but, failed.

"Meat?" Questioned Cain, also trying to take a bite out of it. The meat couldn't be bitten and so, Cain failed as well.

Magdalene groaned in anger and chose to ignore its existence.

"I'll go talk to Isaac, I guess.." She said, leaving Cain to watch her go to him. Still holding the heart in his hands, he squeezed it and sat down. There was a door in the distance, full of blackness. Two items were placed in front of a statue in the one room. If one decided to take an item, they'd have to pay in their own blood.

Lazarus saw the room first, then the others.

No one went in.

But, Isaac went to the trapdoor that popped up in the middle of Magdalene chatting with him and he fell. It didn't kill him, like he had hoped.


	13. Safety First

"Isaac?" Cain yelled, leaping down the trapdoor towards him. The boy was slowly wobbling in the direction of a door. He didn't answer Cain's calls but eventually, the eyepatch boy caught up with Isaac and gave him a slap across his cheek to alert his senses.

"I didn't want to do that...But yer acting like an idiot right now! Who just tries to kill themselves after coming all this way, anyway?" He said, fiercely glaring at him.

"S-Sorry..?" Isaac stammered, his sight glued to the floor.

Cain sighed and pinched the top of his forehead. "It's alright, kid. You got to stop making us worry, though.."

The sound of several individuals dropping turned their view over to Lazarus, Samson and Magdalene who fell down to get to them. Magdalene brushed off nonexistent dirt off of her knees and stood there, eyeing Cain. She held out a hand and coughed to bring his attention to her.

"Yum heart, please." She stated, waiting for Cain to give it back to her. The eyepatch boy gave a stare of bewilderment and then he understood and tossed it to her.

"This place sure is stranger than the others..I can sense some bad vibes here." Samson said more to himself, whistling from the area's weird look. Everyone put their attention to the place and took a gaze around the room. There was bones littered all throughout the gray-walled room. The ground felt stiff and most of all, it was like a cave. The flooded caverns was a dark place, but this one wasn't that dark. However, it paid its darkness in another way; the area itself with its feelings of doubt and the monsters. The group could smell the dull scent of ashes and fresh guts from a mile away.

"Do you think we'll make it through here alive?" Lazarus asked, already regretting to follow them down to these depths.

"As long as we put our minds and strength into it!" Samson assured, gesturing a thumbs up.

"Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's get this over with!" Cain spoke, grinning as he ran ahead of the group. They followed close behind so the doors wouldn't shut on any of them.

The first living beings sighted out were fat dark grey fly-like creatures buzzing and swarming the moderately large room. There were statues of frowning heads, also in the color of grey but the group had thought they weren't alive, at first. Once they saw them spitting out balls of a red substance, they dodged the balls and switched between dealing with the flies and passing through several grey statue heads. It was pretty complicated, especially when Lazarus was damaged from the impact of a small pack of the flies exploding in front of him. He fell down and coughed out some of his blood, the explosion blowing a few of his rolls of bandages out. Lazarus' stomach wound could be seen more visibly with the entrails being the most noticeable. He grabbed at the wound, attempting to hide it.

"We've got most of them! There's just one more to go!" Cain said, forcing tears to come out of his face to the last fly creature.

Magdalene joined in to speed up the process and Samson enjoyed the view close up. Isaac was the one to see Lazarus squirming in agony and he rushed to his side. Kneeling down, he pulled the ginger-haired boy's arm back from the wound and took a peek. Then, he scattered the rest of the rolls of bandages left to try hiding the evidence of his pain. The outcome of the result left the visibility of the wound to be worse.

"A-Ahh! I can't walk like this! It's beginning to hurt and...Look." Lazarus said, exposing more of his wound. He winced and watched small droplets of blood hit the floor. "The wound is bleeding again."

Isaac turned his head to glance at the others, then back to Lazarus' wound. "...Stay there. I'll get them to help." Isaac spoke, running to the rest of the group. They successfully took down the last gray fly monster and were talking about a subject that didn't seem important to the boy. He tapped Samson on the shoulder and he gave a look shortly before facing Isaac.

"What do you want?" He asked.

But unfortunately for him, he didn't need an answer no longer. The minute he saw Lazarus in pain with the same bleeding wound he hid for him, he sprinted over and put his hands on the wound. Isaac and the others came to them with worry covering themselves all around. Samson applied some pressure on the wound and in a hurry, he removed his bright red bandanna and tied it around his stomach area to hide more of the wound. It worked, but it couldn't hide all of it. The brunette held the ginger-haired's hand and shook his head sadly.

"There's nothing I can do to stop the bleeding. It's been like that ever since you fell harshly on the rocks.." He said, his thumb massaging Lazarus' fingers.

"It's okay." Lazarus replied with a small smile. "I was lucky to be alive after that fall...So, I will try living with the pain."

Magdalene held out her yum heart. "How about easing the pain?" She asked, softly shoving it to him.

"S-Sure, I guess..." He said, biting into it and feeling the wound become calmer. He blew out a sigh and stretched his arms up, returning the heart to Magdalene. "That's better...Thanks."

Magdalene sweetly hummed in response. Samson let go of Lazarus' hand and helped him up, letting him lean on his shoulder.

"We need to retreat to a safe place." He stated, advancing to the starting room where they landed in. "For now, I'll remain here with Lazarus. Tell me when things are mostly cleared up."

"Ok!" Cain responded, saluting them and running off into an enemy filled area. The door there closed shut once he entered, leaving Isaac and Magdalene to head to the opposite sided one.

They were a bunch of red spheres in the corners of the room while two floating wide-eyed bloody fetuses spat at the two. Magdalene although slow in speed, had dodged with little effort. She was getting used to stepping out of the way of enemy attacks. Isaac copied Magdalene's movements, but with greater speed. He froze in his tracks however as he heard the dead babies speak.

"Isaac. Isaac." They chanted altogether, their bloodied mouths repeating Isaac's name.

"W-What?" He asked them, thinking they were calling him for a reason.

Then, he was hit behind by a red sphere's smaller spherical liquids and he snapped out of the thoughts. He knew not to trust any monsters he'd face and this time, it shouldn't be different than it is now. The boy felt his back sizzling from the substance fired at him, burning a few parts of his skin off. He chose not to worry about it and charged ahead at the mocking fetuses. In no time, they were finished and the bubbling red spheres were left to eliminate.

"I'll handle this." Said Magdalene, shooting her tears at one of the spheres.

Isaac meanwhile, curled into a ball and let his thoughtful mind swim freely. The basement under his rug was filled with monsters, children just like him, corpses, shops and everything out of place. He never realized how far he's gone until now. He still felt lost.

"Lost? That's me." Said an unknown voice, startling Isaac. He wildly shot his head in every single direction, trying to find out who the voice belonged to.

"I'm the Lost. You're lost too, I see." The source of the voice appeared in front of Isaac. "How about we escape together?"

Isaac recoiled in fear and shook his head, but the Lost wasn't going to take a 'no' for an answer. Both of them shared a similarity whether Isaac knew or not.

"Don't be like that..."

...

"You'll die without me."

Isaac refused to respond to that. Regardless of what he would say, it wouldn't change the Lost's mind. The boy was confused to why the Lost would even say that he'll die without its help. He didn't understand.

"Look, just trust me on this, ok? I'll always be here if you need me." The Lost said, disappearing slowly until there was no trace of it left to be seen. Isaac found the Lost to be suspicious of appearing and then, leaving quickly. He didn't obviously trust it as much as he somehow wanted to.

Magdalene was done with the last of the enemies in the room, unlocking access to the other rooms visible. She glanced in Isaac's path, patiently waiting for him to get up. He did get up from the glance she gave and they walked out of the room to the one where they were, looking at the room Cain ran in. It was unlocked and so, they stepped inside. Cain was easily spotted in the center of the room, pretending to polish his lucky gold ring on his ankle.

"Yer here!" Cain said happily to the two, pointing at the door behind him. "I'm positive that there may be a safer place beyond that door and the next!"

"How positive?" Magdalene questioned, challenging his prediction.

"One hundred percent positive! My instincts almost never fail when sniffing out important things." He stated, confident in his ability.

Magdalene rolled her eyes at his lame prideful attitude and followed him along with Isaac to the next two rooms. It was shocking for the two to notice Cain's prediction was nearly spot on. There was a room locked by two chains roughly hugging the door shut. Two key slots were in the way of the door and chains.

"Eh. Close enough." Cain mumbled, holding out two keys. Magdalene and Isaac stared at him with surprised expressions.

"What? Can't a kid carry around shiny old keys?" He asked, placing them in the slots and creating a click sound from the locks. They turned into thin air and the chains dropped helplessly to the floor. "I have nothing else to hold so, why not hold some keys? They're pretty helpful, y'know."

"Ok ok...Isaac. You should check what's in the room." Magdalene replied, nudging Isaac foward.

"Coward." Cain said, scowling at the blonde girl.

Isaac went to the door and peeked inside, anyhow. He saw high bookshelves piled with books in alphabetical order, there was a comfortable quiet atmosphere and no monsters to be seen. It was a safe place, like Cain had predicted.

"It's good!" Isaac said, smiling. "Go get our other friends to come here."


	14. Shadows To Hide Behind

"Nerdy style.." Said Samson who arrived with his weakened partner and the eyepatch boy who guided them here, settling himself and the ginger-haired boy in the library. "It's the safest we got thus far, though. This'll do as a good rest spot."

Cain and Magdalene willingly agreed.

As for the pale boy with his spectral friend; he was focusing on an odd shade near the wall. There was nothing but the bottom of the bookshelves to cast a shadow on and even those shades are on the ground. The shade that stood out was attached to the wall. It gave Isaac a spook and he went to take a look at it to make sure he wasn't seeing hallucinations or overlooked a small harmless detail. However, when he was in front of it, he saw the unbelievable shadow on the wall. He was going to try dismissing it until it grew a pair of sharp red eyes. Isaac flinched in defense.

"A-Are you real?" Isaac whispered to the shadow, trembling just a tad.

"What's real is strictly up to you." The shadow replied, sliding to the floor. "In other words, maybe I am."

"Uhm..W-What's your name?"

"Judas."

"I-Im-"

"Isaac. I knew from the pale distinguishing features you call skin. It's not complicated to spot out a weaker child in the group." The shadow snapped its fingers, grinning at the boy's natural shock upon his face. "Don't be so surprised yet! Besides, I only knew your name because I heard it being mentioned outside of this room. No special magic or anything...Unless I get bored."

Isaac's nervous sweat poured like a fountain on his head, but he felt much more relieved to hear that it didn't knew his name at first. He scratched his arm awkwardly and coughed, politely putting a smile on his face to 'Judas'. "Have you always been here by yourself?" He asked, making himself comfortable on the ground. He sat cross-legged with his hands patting the floor.

"Let me be honest with you, dear Isaac...No. There's been someone with me before; a guy who was like me, in a way. He was very dull and so boring though that we ended up parting our paths one day. He was a shooting star that simply couldn't be wished on any longer. Too bad that he's a human and I'm not because there's all sorts of nastier tricks below the depths..I hope he gets what he rightfully deserves." The shadow replied with bitterness. But then it swallowed the bitterness once it heard a familiar voice entering the library.

"I don't understand why I don't see more monsters in directions I hadn't took.." The voice spoke to itself, the owner of that voice glancing around the library. 'He' caught Isaac and the others in his eyesight and sighed heavily. "There goes my answer."

The shadow was about to disappear into the stacks of books, but locked eyes with its "friend" before completely hiding itself. It seemed really angry at its plan failing at the worst time.

"Father of demons..." The identified boy muttered, scowling at the few stacks of books where the shadow hid. "I swear, if any of you think it's name is 'Judas'.."

"Wasn't it?" Isaac asked, curious about this mystery boy. He almost resembled Isaac, all except for the dusty red fez he had on his head.

"Of course not! That's ridiculous! My name's Judas.." He said, walking over to a bookshelf. The fez boy read the book's titles in a barely audible mumble and then, took out a gray book with an upside down star as the cover. He hastily slipped it under one of his arms and went back to Isaac.

Samson suspiciously glared at him, watching his every move. The others didn't think of him as a threat.

"Pleasure to meet you, I suppose. The depths could use a lively touch." Judas spoke, shrugging at his own response.

"I'm Cain and this is Maggy, Sam and Lazarus!" Said Cain, pointing at the rest of the group that wasn't introduced. Magdalene smacked Cain automatically after the sentence. "OW!"

"Those are my reflexes whenever you say 'Maggy'. So, don't say 'Maggy', idiot." She stated angrily.

"The idiot here is the one who is sensitive to nicknames, Maggy! Get used to it! The nickname's pretty cute for you." Cain responded, smirking. He made a run for it once Magdalene had the look of an aggressive bulldog.

"Whatever." Judas said, rolling his eyes. "Anyway, what brings you all here?"

"Safety.." Lazarus said, eyeing his aching wound. Samson held him closer.

"Ah...'Tis but a small lie. This library won't keep you safe forever." Judas replied.

"We don't plan on spending our lives here forever." Samson argued, squinting his eyes in anger.

"Sure sure...Just don't get too comfy." The fez boy countered. Samson groaned in irritation and turned his head to pay attention to Lazarus.

"Uhm, Judas?" Said Isaac. "So, w-what was that shadow thing?"

Judas gave another glare towards the shadow's hiding spot and face-palmed. "It's a shadow creature that I've accidentally summoned while I performed a certain ritual. I believe it's a part of me but...It acts too obnoxious."

"Oh."

"Mhm."

Isaac wringed his fingers and breathed quietly to the sound of silence that lasted about two minutes at most. He was going to say a sentence to Judas but, the fez boy broke the ice of silence, first.

"What's your name?"

"I-Isaac."

"Genuinely simple name. I like it."

Isaac shyly brought his head down and smiled. "Thank you."

Judas sat down and took out the gray book under his arm, opening it up to a page in the middle. He muttered strange words to himself, not giving Isaac a second glance. Isaac wasn't going to get his attention anytime now.

"I hate that guy." The boy heard Samson speak with gritted teeth, clenching his fists.

"I don't mind his company." Lazarus said while resting a hand over his own cheek.

The others had their opinions already set for the fez boy with a mysterious personality, but none wanted him gone

and that's why Isaac didn't need to worry, for his new friend won't be going anywhere without them. Or so, he believed.


	15. Observation Is Key

Judas waited for everyone else to sleep tight before getting himself and his book up and out of the library.

"Don't let the spiders bite." He whispered carefully to them all, opening and shutting the door softly. There he stood, with peace and quiet in the depths for once. Monsters still roamed, but they were oddly silent and that interested the fez boy. He could then observe their natural being and behavior much closer and murder them when the time was right. Of course, there remained a mere handful or a little more of the creatures because Isaac and his friends fought half of them on their way to the library. Not to mention, some of the alternate paths were empty of monsters, too. Judas sighed and traced his fingers along the thick pages of his gray book.

"Wandering even further couldn't be bad..." He said to himself, allowing his feet to move him ahead.

He became much pleased when he encountered a group of emotionless "knights" with blank faced gray masks and parts of their brains sticking out awkwardly. The fez boy snickered and got dangerously close to one of them. It didn't react to his distance and walked away from him. When he grasped its brain gently, the creature jerked foward and spun around to look Judas in the eyes. It then turned back around and continued walking like nothing ever happened.

"Interesting.." Judas said, creating mental notes in his mind.

 _The knights are almost as harmless as they appear. They'll barely acknowledge you or attack, but will show a hint of shock after something comes in contact with the brain area. Hmm.._

The fez boy then lunged to the "knight", smashing its mask to the floor. He proceeded to clutch a handful of the pink part and forcefully pull it out of the masked one's head. With a sickening SNAP, the brain was removed and the creature spasmed uncontrollably on the floor before it went completely limp. Judas felt the squishy brain in his palms and noted himself on how wet it was. He would have to figure out how the strange creature reacted perfectly to touch and still was able to show no emotions.

"It could be the brain...And I just don't know how it gets them to react. What is it about this part of them that I don't know about? Could this be their actual core instead of the heart?"

He squinted at the brain and threw it at another masked creature, the brain colliding with their own. The creature fell down and stood down for more than a single second. Judas took this opportunity to approach it and step down on its vulnerable part several times. After the satisfying assault, he took care of the rest by landing rough punches into their weak spots. The sound of the doors opening themselves chimed in once the last punch was made to the last masked creature. Judas would've been on his way to go find more monsters if someone unexpectedly didn't interrupt him so suddenly.

"YOU!" Said the confirmed voice of Samson who stepped in the room. "I've heard you talking science crap to yourself...Is this really what you do often? Kill and talk like a maniac?"

Judas twirled the sunny yellow puffy sphere connected to his fez and frowned. "Well, look who decided to show up. How'd you go by without me noticing?" He spoke, hiding his irritation rather well.

"I knew you wouldn't give me a second glance and so, I sneaked out first while you were reading your stupid book. Before I did, I made sure to make it look like I was still there by asking 'your shadow buddy' a favor. He accepted the favor fast because he hated you like I do.." Samson explained, smirking. "Surprised?"

"Yes. You got me. Congratulations..Now, what do you want? Do you think spying on me would help keep your suspicions under control?" Judas replied blankly.

Samson shook his head and laughed. "Oh NO...It's more than suspicions, Judas. I know you're an odd boy and the odd ones bring a weird feeling in my gut. I've got my eye on you and that's all. I need to try to keep everyone else safe from you."

"Everyone here is capable of defending themselves, Samson."

"Better safe than sorry."

Judas rolled his eyes at that comment. "Are you going to keep following me?" He asked.

"I would if I were sleep-resistant. Consider yourself lucky." Samson responded, retreating to the library.

"...The fool came all the way here to only gather what I was saying during this research. That's useless." Judas muttered, inching towards a tarot card on the floor. He picked it up, looked at the details on it and flicked it away.

"That card was useless, too. Who needs a second fool? That would make me wander from the start, wouldn't it?"


	16. An Old Enemy Arrives

What could've been a chance to head onwards to the fearful boss room was almost destroyed because of Lazarus. Not only was he the first to wake up in the group, but by complaining about his massive headache and hurling all over the floor, the others simply couldn't let him go with them. They, however, wanted to stick together as a complete group, but Samson offered to stay behind again to take care of Lazarus' condition. The others found the choice to be helpful for them to go on and defeat the boss and so, they sadly agreed. With Cain's head held high, Magdalene's confidence, Judas' strength and Isaac's spirit, they all made it to the room they had been waiting for and ran right in..

There was a big blob in the room; most of it was just a skeletal figure and one part of it had fresh flesh. It lacked an eye and a tooth, and that was all there was to describe the blob. Magdalene gasped at it as she saw it wink at her.

"W-Wait!" She hurriedly spoke. "That _thing_ is-!"

She stopped herself from finishing. She knew only her and Isaac truly recognized who this creature was. Telling who the creature is was their least concern.

"What is it, Maggy?" Cain asked, displaying a mood of uneasiness.

Magdalene changed her mind momentarily and decided to just explain for the sake of ending the question. She decided to ignore the nickname calling as well...For once.

"It's...A while ago in the upper part of the basement. Confused and afraid of where I was, I cried and cried tears and managed to stay alive throughout countless enemies I've found. Once I stumbled upon a monster blob with a toothy grin and-and...This monster looks like that one! Except...Undead." She said, watching the blob grin and open its mouth.

"Move!" Judas ordered, jumping out of the way. The others followed behind swiftly, except for Magdalene who was carried by Cain. The blob had released a bright red beam of light and the group knew it wasn't a good gift.

"I think I've seen the light...The STOP light! But, there'd be no way I'm stopping for that!" Cain said, dropping Magdalene carefully. "Second...YOU KNOW THIS THING, MAGGY?"

"Yes..." She said, scowling at the eyepatch boy. "I thought I made that clear. It's not as important as defeating it, though."

"You're right. Let's give this blob another taste of its own medicine!" Cain replied, readying his wired coat hanger.

They all combined their attacks to take out the blob as soon as possible, damaging themselves while attacking and dodging. The monster was clearly outnumbered, but it was much tougher than they thought when fighting it. That's why when Judas was knocked down by the impact of it crashing down to the ground and letting loose some projectile blood that burned his skin, he panicked and ran, purposely shoving Cain in the process. The eyepatch boy fell and couldn't take in the red light that sped its way to him until he felt it crawling all over his body. The temperature of the monster's blast was unbelievably hot and marked his skin with horrible blisters. He screamed for as long as the blast took and continued to scream when it ended. Magdalene rushed to him and held out her heart item.

"Stop! Eat this and you'll be-" She said before he smacked the heart away. It landed with a thud a few inches away from the blonde and she sighed. Pain was taking over his mental state of mind; he just couldn't think with all of the hotness pulsing in his skin. Magdalene turned her head to meet her sight with Judas', who was noticeably trembling a bit.

"Hey! Why would you push him? What did he even do to you?" She said, rage bubbling in her voice.

"I must do anything I can to protect myself by all means necessary! Even if it means eliminating the closest person.." He replied nervously. "I never knew I'd actually be faced by a stronger challenge so, I acted natural and did what I had to do!"

Magdalene's anger began rising with each sentence she spoke. "Is it natural to sacrifice a friend? No! You don't lead another to their doom and pretend it's normal! I can't believe you!"

Isaac saw the blob taking the argument as an advantage and charged up another beam attack. The boy shot tears into its back and it hopped to the side, giving Isaac a glare. It then chose to shoot its beam at him. He dodged it and steadily kept his pace as the monster attacked him with its different methods.

"Then don't believe me." Judas stated, giving a glance at Isaac's battle. "I probably provoked you to hate me enough."

"N...Not me!" Cain choked out, grinning. He was currently resisting the urge to howl in pain and did his best to endure the stinging feeling he felt on his skin. "That push...W..Was actually an accident...Right? I...I believe it was! I still b...Believe in you!"

Judas swallowed a lump in his throat and backed away shamefully. He turned to a wall and stared through it. He didn't want to speak to them anymore in fear of feeling guilt. The push wasn't an accident...

"Ignore him." Magdalene said, walking over to her precious heart item and picking it up. She gave it to Cain and smiled. "Eat up and feel better. I'm going to help out Isaac."

He nodded and bit into the heart when Magdalene ran to join the battle.

Isaac was running out of energy from running around and dodging almost every attack thrown at him. He laid on the ground, breathing heavily as he touched his tender wounds. The monster closed in on him and jumped up, preparing to crush Isaac with its weight. The scenario played out there caused Magdalene to remember when she was cornered and was about to be crushed before Isaac came in the surprisingly open door and saved her. She would have to return the favor and save Isaac's life. She broke into a sprint, increasing her pace to the point where she ran faster than she ever had. Yet, the speed wasn't enough to make it to him in time. The blonde blamed her slowness and begged herself to run a little faster. She took in a deep breath of air and felt her speed advance. Then, she reached Isaac and pushed him aside and went to his side. The two saw the monster fall and fail, disappointment shining in its eye. Isaac cried a few tears at it as well as Magdalene and the monster froze, exploding into chunks of bloody flesh and shattered bones. Isaac was proud to finish the job, but thanked Magdalene for her help. Without her there, he would've been flattened and most certainly dead.

"Y-You're welcome." She stuttered, lowering herself down to the ground. She held onto her legs, painfully aching because of the force she put upon them to run quicker.

"Are you o-okay?" Isaac questioned.

"I'll be fine..." She answered. "I need to relax my legs a bit. I pushed myself too hard to save you."

"-And that's why yer a hero, Maggy!" Cain shouted, clapping his hands together to cheer her on. He obviously looked better than he was a few minutes ago. "Good job!"

Magdalene happily blushed and giggled. "Thanks.."

Judas turned his head to see them and uttered no words.

Isaac met his gaze and the two looked away from each other. He would've passed out on the floor if it weren't for the sound of a door appearing being echoed in the room. The boy spun himself around to view another boss door in sight. It was definitely something Isaac hadn't seen happened until now, but he knew it wasn't the weirdest event to occur in the depths or ever in the basement.

Magdalene saw the door, too and dismissed it as she paid her mind to the spawned pedestal. She got a glimpse at it closer and saw a necklace with one large tooth in the middle. She picked it up and carried it over to Cain.

"Um, I don't know what to do with this. You should have it.." She said, putting it over his head and around his neck. He poked the tooth and chuckled, pulling Magdalene in for a warm hug.

"I like it a lot! Even if yer giving it to me because you just don't want it, I'll always keep it with me!" He spoke, breaking the hug in an instant. Magdalene wore an unreadable expression and gave Cain a longer hug than he gave. He, however, ended it as quick as he done with the first hug and grew a weak smile.

Everyone's calm attitudes came to a pinching stop once they heard a booming voice shake the ground.

"ISAAC!"

Hearing his name called again by the loud threatening voice of his mother, Isaac shook like a leaf caught in the wind and followed the source to the boss room without thinking of his actions. Past memories flooded his head, dizzying his movements.

He needed to see his mother again.


	17. VS Mom!

The room...Was clear. Nobody in sight and nothing to attack either. That's what poor Isaac had thought when he entered the room. Then, a voice yelled his name and down stomped a chubby leg with hairs on it and a red heel. The looks of it would make someone cringe or laugh at whoever owned the leg, but Isaac was terrified and paralyzed. The leg was huge and belonged to his mother. He didn't know what to do. He couldn't attack the one who brought him life, even if she was a nasty and cruel person to him.

"IS~AAC!" His mother sweetly shouted, her giant eye peeking through one of the many doors in the room. Different types of monsters were summoned at a random will and they scratched and hissed at Isaac. The boy fought them back, his energy still weak from earlier. The way his mother's leg smashed down whenever he least expected it only made the fight worse.

"M-Mommy! Please stop!" He said, trying to reason with her. That sentence was replied with a direct crash in the head by her foot. He stumbled and fell, coughing up some of his blood.

"It h-hurts, mommy! It hurts!" He cried, curling up into his usual position. He blocked out the ringing in his head by focusing on the pain that the monsters were giving him. Blow after blow, they eagerly teared his flesh apart, leaving behind open wounds that leaked out the red liquid. Isaac's familiar appeared worried, shooting its ghostly tears on its own at the monsters. Some of them backed away and others attempted to attack the spectral fetus. They couldn't land a hit though, and that fueled their anger. They took out that anger by using it on the defenseless boy. His mother's laughter cracked through the room.

"..Goodbye...Mommy..." Isaac muttered, tears overflowing down his face. He had accepted his fate and welcomed death with open arms.

But, there was a part of him that was keeping him from dying.

Magdalene, Cain, Lazarus, Samson and Judas.

Those many parts. They circled his thoughts and he felt...

A burning desire to live.

He had escaped his mother's wrath by descending down the trapdoor because his first choice was life. He never wanted to die in the first place. He just felt despair from the life he was living, which made him escape down to the depths.

He felt a wired coat hanger through his head, a cube of meat surrounding his side and blood dripping from his eyes. He was entirely new and was ready to kill his own mother once and for all.

"Sorry..." He said, taking out the monsters with big shots of blood and sliding out of his mother's way. He aimed for the watching eye and doubled in as many attacks as he could fit in before her eye disappeared from the door. She menacingly repeated Isaac's name, striking her foot down. The shadow of her foot casted on the ground, giving Isaac the upper hand to dodge. He blinked his bloody tears towards the leg. Afterwards, he changed from dealing with the leg to balancing between handling the monsters and attacking the eye and fatty folds of his mother. The leg he often dodged with care and caution.

When monsters stopped spawning and his mother supposedly stopped attacking, Isaac paused his fighting spirit and wiped his eyes. Was his battle truly over?

The answer was provided when his mother landed her foot on him without warning.

Isaac held her heel and struggled to keep it up and from crushing him completely. He was losing his strength fast from protecting himself. So, he regained it in the way he knew best; thoughts. He thought back to when it used to be peaceful and he would play with Guppy and hug his father every morning when he was on his way out the door to work. For once, tears full of happiness slipped down his cheeks and he lifted the foot higher and higher until he threw it up. Moments later, the foot came down again and he dodged halfway, feeling parts of her leg harshly brushing past his arm. He then proceeded to take her down with the last of his tears, filled with not sadness and regret, but cheerfulness and hope. With one final scream of Isaac's name, his mother's voice faded and the room erupted with flesh as all except one door disappeared. The boy's bloody tears and every other additional add-on that he mysteriously received during the battle vanished.

His friends flooded around him once they ran in the door, speaking encouragements, worried comments and congratulating words. Even Samson and Lazarus had been among the group, hearing the news of Isaac being trapped in the room by himself and being forced to fight for his life.

"Amazing! I've never seen anyone like you carry out a merciless brawl and win!" Samson said, pumping his fists in the air. "You're much tougher than all of us!"

"Yeah...I'm glad you're alive, Isaac." Magdalene added in, giving her heart item to the boy. He bit into it and returned it to her, eating the other hearts that popped up around the room. He began to feel his body relax and in a minute, his wounds were almost gone.

"Isaac, look!" Lazarus spoke, pointing at two items next to each other. They were both small squares of...Something. Isaac approached one of them. His heart skipped a beat when his eyes caught an image. There was Isaac, dressed in regular casual clothing with his mother and father smiling by his side. The photograph gathered in more of his memories and an important one where he had a good time with his family in the form of a photo. They took it to hold an event dear to them; their bonding altogether.

For the first time in a long while, his smile grew wide.

He touched the photograph and placed it in his hands carefully, holding it to his chest. Tears dropped to the back of the photograph slowly.

 _Fate chosen._


	18. Buried in the Womb

**Here it is! The beginning and middle segments were written weeks ago so excuse them if they're written weird.**

/

Why _does this place feel so familiar?_

Warm tender fleshy pulsing walls, warmer temperature and warm everything. Isaac massaged the walls mindlessly and shut his eyes, surrounded by thoughts. Cain took off with Magdalene catching up to him while Judas sat on the ground in silence along with Lazarus. Samson glared at a nearby door and Isaac was, of course, confused about the area. No one else remaining in the starting room had any clue on what to do and awaited a decision.  
"Don't we continue? We've been doing that so much...And is there really another method besides digging deeper?" Asked Lazarus, covering his mouth with his hand to yawn.  
"Options upon options, Lazarus. We could live here forever, die, try finding a way back to the top of the basement or some other alternate plan. So, the mere question of importance here is whether we're willing to continue with no benefits to doing so whatsoever." Judas explained, adjusting his fez to a more comfortable position on his forehead. He opened up his book and flipped pages, searching for his favorite sentences.  
"No. Gaining a benefit doesn't matter! What matters should be escaping this dreadful basement once and for all! Isn't that what we're all fighting for?" Samson said confidently. Judas shook his head in response.  
Isaac put his hands on his waist, lowering his expression. He had felt the presence of an unwanted guest nearby and backed up, catching a shiver as he did. Then, he was greeted with the sight of the Lost, who wore an unusual smile upon its ghostly features. "Hello. Good to see you're alive." It spoke happily. "For a pinch, I thought you were as good as dead. But you have proven me wrong!"  
Isaac curled his fingers and raised his thumb in a shaky thumbs up gesture. He narrowed his eyes in suspicion though, still not giving his trust to the spirit.  
"What's your goal now, Isaac? You already got your wish of ending the suffering your mother had caused you. There seems to be something holding you back from true peace.." The Lost said, closing its transparent eyeballs.  
"H-Huh? I..." Isaac thought hard on what his mind had to offer to him on the situation. He destroyed his mother, although he just wanted a better life and his pain was becoming too much when she beat him and shut the doors on him from the outside world. Guilt struck him like a thrown boulder, filling his thoughts with death wishes and hurtful comments to himself. He didn't mean to kill his mother and yet...  
He had no choice.  
The pale shaken boy looked the Lost right in its closed eyes, with a final conclusion and said,  
"I need to erase my existence." The Lost with an amused mood, opened one of its eyes, keeping the other closed.  
"Do as you desire, but it doesn't end here. It doesn't end in this womb." It stated firmly, its smile wavering.  
Isaac frowned, realizing where he stood and stomped on the fleshy floor with one foot.  
"I don't care if it d-doesn't! I want to disappear!" He shouted, scratching his bald head nervously.  
"If you want to disappear, take my words seriously. You can't be eradicated from this world without going past the womb and onto a new fate. Whatever you choose from then is up to you." The Lost blankly pointed out, not affected by Isaac's change in volume of voice. Isaac became puzzled by the Lost's statement and was about to question it and what it meant to somebody like him, but it was vanishing slowly, pupils nowhere to be seen in its eyes. It sighed and before disappearing completely, told Isaac to stay strong and continue the journey for answers. The boy could've sworn the ghostly humanoid gave away a familiar vibe.  
"Isaac." Said Judas, snapping Isaac away from his stare at a wall. The satanist glanced up from his book, squinting his eyes at him. "Who were you talking to?"  
"My...Uh..." Isaac stuttered, coming up with an excuse. "My...Self?"  
Samson chuckled, running a hand through his short brown hair. "I can't argue with that!" He said, grinning.  
Lazarus raised a hand and forced a cough out of his mouth, turning everyone's gazes to him. The ginger-haired boy hated all the attention he received because of his actions, but tried to remain calm.  
"I...I can." He spoke.  
Judas gently closed his book and sat there, cross-legged. "Drop it." He said to Lazarus, with no hint of emotion.  
"W-What? I didn't get to-" Lazarus choked out before being interrupted.  
"I said drop it. Do yourself a favor and shut up or else you might begin a bigger debate." Judas said with a more demanding tone. Lazarus hung his head down in shame and stood quiet.  
"Wait a minute, you idiot!" Samson said, anger erupting inside of him. "Why shut him up if you started this with your question? If anything, you should zip up and shut your awfully annoying mouth for once!"  
Judas stretched his hands behind his back, wearing a darker expression. "I don't talk often. The question was taken out of context to start a debate from and who's to blame? You and Lazarus. Don't be an imbecile and ignore the details in what you do and say." He said, putting his hands to the ground.  
Samson's knuckles transitioned to a milky white from him clenching his fists with a brutal thought in his head. He restrained himself from giving Judas a nasty jab to the face.  
"...U-Um, we should catch up with Magdalene and Cain. They could be in danger.." Isaac responded when the room turned silent. Lazarus nodded without uttering a word to him, Samson ignored him and Judas was getting up and heading to an opened door on his own. His silhouette went farther away with each step, the shadow casted near him holding a sinister smile. Before they left, he was gone and Samson was more relieved to know that.

The satisfying squish of an eyeball or two was heard and the doors forcibly opening to the victory of the duo. The eyepatch boy held a hand towards his partner and she slapped it with all of her might, sticking her tongue out at him.  
"Good job, eyepatch. We've done great." She said, beginning to chuckle. "Yer welcome, dearest Maggy." He replied, grinning. "Once again, I couldn't had done it without you here!" The two then took a quick break, silently sitting on the pulsing floor and rethinking whatever was on their minds previously. They both were able to bond well while by themselves to chat and battle, but they preferred moments of complete quiet, too. Magdalene thought of her sweet dreams of becoming a passionate designer of dresses and exotic clothing. Cain, on the other hand, thought of gambling and becoming rich. Eventually, he got bored of his own dream thinking and tried to bother Magdalene to piss her off.  
"Maggy, what were you thinking 'bout?' He asked her immediately. Magdalene didn't seem pissed by the question and went straight to answering it.  
"My dreams of being a clothes designer. How about you?" She responded wholeheartedly.  
"Money, gambling, treasures, the usual. I see a rich life in my dreamy thoughts." Cain replied, embarrassed that he couldn't lie to her like he wanted to a second ago. He trusted her and it was difficult to lie to a friend when they had put up with enough.  
"Nonsensical goal." Magdalene said, twisting a piece of her fluffy hair in her fingers. "You're rich already, you silly boy!"  
Cain pulled on a serious face and although puzzled, acted more irritated than confused.  
"What? Then where's my treasure and money and prizes and mansion and rich stuff? Nowhere! Because I'm not rich!" He said, disappointed about his facts.  
"No no, Cain! You ARE rich! Right here!" Magdalene said, poking his chest. "You have got the richest personality and you're an awesome explorer. You're fun, eyepatch and I'm sure you'll always be that way because you define yourself from your actions. Everyone I've been with, I felt a connection. Even you and that's pretty weird! Maybe we're the same." "Or related." Cain joked.  
Magdalene playfully punched his shoulder. "No! I don't feel related to you or the others like that! Anyhow, you're rich with our friendship, yourself and the courage you hold. No matter what, don't forget that!" She said.  
Cain felt an uneasy flow between himself and Magdalene, the atmosphere suddenly getting uncomfortable to him. His head dripped of sweat from both the battles he fought and the uncomfortable feeling of being inspired by what used to be his enemy. "Yer saying that only because yer my friend, aren'tcha?" The eyepatch boy muttered, a shaky smirk on his face, ready to fade away. "Probably." Magdalene said, shrugging. "I care about you, too."  
Cain's smile dropped into a small hopeless frown. He knew he was wrong and now, nothing would change that. She had become caring and kind to him, unlike before when she teased him and hated his guts. He didn't like affection.  
He listened to Magdalene hesitate when seeing his mood transition and heard her feet tapping over to a door. She gave a greeting call and glanced at Cain.  
"Cain! Look who's here for us!"  
The eyepatch boy snapped his head to the side and took in the warm smiles of Samson, Isaac and Lazarus. Judas was nowhere to be seen in the group, but Cain felt better already to be seeing more happy faces. He hopped up to his feet and pointed to the door in back of him with his thumb.  
"..Ready for round two?" He asked, daring them to say yes. They did with enthusiasm and Cain faced the door, charging ahead with full speed.  
"Let's do it then! We're getting real close to the boss room!"

Crying, spitting and hissing was a bloodied undead humanoid. Its chalky pale head drenched in red liquid was connected with a meaty chain to the lower body that was much healthier. The eye sockets were empty, cold and mostly afraid. It paced throughout the room in desperation to become aware and alive, but its life was coming to a dead end. It heard the slow tapping of feet and whirled its attached head to the noise, viewing a pink-skinned boy with an old red fez. The yellow ball on the string that was part of the fez danced as he stabbed the inside of his eyeball with his fingers and shot multiple tears at the humanoid. It snapped its body back when the tears hit it and seeing as the attack was a threat, it growled and attempted to tackle Judas down. It didn't know what else to do and was scared of trying another plan. However, Judas had the upper arm and took the creature down with ease, tearing the body and head apart. The meat chain dropped to the ground, leaving a small stain and the satanist smiled, knowing he had won the battle against this foe. There were other ones about ready to murder him, but he wasn't going out without a good fight. Judas pulled out his trusty book and caressed the cover, mumbling under his breath.  
"You're all going to hell."  
He chants a demonic spell and then, his eyes became hollow and his forehead held a mark. Judas' shadow cackles with glee at the sight and eyes the enemies in the room curiously.  
"Think you'll last long, Judas?" It questioned. "Because I sure hope not!"  
Judas gritted his teeth, his hands twitching with each breath he takes in.  
"Oh, watch me. I know I'll take them straight to the underworld, you sick shadow. It's what we want and we'll get it! We'll get them all.." He spoke, stomping towards the next few enemies coming his way. The shadow grinned, watching this marvelous play commence before it.  
"Good! Then show them what you got!" It cheered.  
Judas blinked his bloody tears to the enemies mercilessly. He smirked a bit and glanced at his shadow after a couple of hits.  
"I would never hold back."

Isaac knew the mocking entrance of the boss room was going to be troubling if the next one wasn't. He guided air in and out of his lungs to calm him down, bracing himself for another mortified creature to chase him around. Magdalene was nervous like Isaac, but hid it rather well. Lazarus, though, didn't hide his fear and narrowed his eyes at the door. Samson was wearing an emotionless expression and Cain had on an eager wide smile. They went inside one by one, close together in defense. They weren't shocked or paralyzed in their place when they saw a horrifying bloated sack of flesh with two black voids for blood-filled eyes and a small set of two teeth poking out of its mouth. Its pointy arms swung its removed eyeballs all around and prepared several attacks for the group. They knew this would happen and yet again they had to fight. While Cain and Samson were okay with battling for their lives, Isaac questioned all of it. Fighting by now seemed useless and only caused more pain. He couldn't help but feel pity for even the darkest opponents.  
This bloated creature fired a big laser in both directions horizontally and the group had to react fast. Lazarus was able to catch up with them, but he tripped clumsily and fell on some dark red goo-substance that the creature had produced on the ground. The ginger-haired boy couldn't begin to think or act right when he felt his entire body sting with pain. He couldn't even try to get back up. Isaac then felt the pity for the creature disappear.  
Samson, in a fit of fear, stepped on the goo to kneel by Lazarus' side. The pain hit his legs like a bus, but he would rather stay by his partner's side and feel pain than have nothing to care about.  
"I...Don't know if I'm going to make it.." Lazarus whispered, tears falling down his cheeks. Samson lifted Lazarus up and carried him to a safer spot on the ground. There, he set him down and gave him a soft hug. "No." The brunette said, eyebrows furrowed. "You're strong! You're going to make it like you had so far!"  
Lazarus inhaled deeply and showed a tiny smile on his face. His heart rhythmically had beat along with Samson's breathing and continued to even when it slowed down.  
"Samson..." Lazarus spoke a little louder. "I-I'm sorry..."  
His heart then stopped and his life was drained out of him. Samson retrieved the bandana of his from Lazarus' open stomach wound and tied it around his hair. "Wimp...You should've just eaten some hearts earlier to live.." He mumbled, sticking his rough hands into Lazarus' wound and breaking his ribcage. He tore it apart and pulled the heart out of the body. "I'll never forget you." He squeezed the heart and set it down on Lazarus' chest. It was more vulnerable this way, but Samson didn't mind. He wiped a few tears sneaking out of his eyes and sunk his fingers into his own flesh. He was agitated now and was definitely going to try avenging his lost friend. The creature howled and growled, launching lasers, summoning more of the nasty red substance and stomping up and down every once in awhile. The group dodged the floating eyeballs throughout the fight and fought back drastically. Samson was the most rapid attacker when battling in this fight, his face red with anger. But, misfortune clouded upon him when he was also the one getting hurt the most. With his reckless assaults, he almost had forgotten about dodging a couple of times.  
"Damn! This thing is tough, but we're just 'bout to take it down!...I think." Cain said, turning his head to gaze at Samson. "You doing okay over there, Sam?"  
Samson, with burned skin and bleeding legs, could merely nod to take away the eyepatch boy's attention from him. His mind was more absorbed in taking down the creature than how he looked or how he felt.  
With sprinkled good luck, the group soon had the beast at its weakest, one last hit causing it to explode. That hit was Samson and he blew his knuckles, sitting on the ground. Once again, a pedestal spawned with an item; Isaac's familiar was curious on what it was and urged Isaac to go check it out by pointing at it and flying over to it. Isaac followed and saw what hovered above the pedestal; a red eyeball, unblinking and lively. It was strangely horrifying for a removed part to seem so alive and dead at the same exact time.  
"That's an eye?" Cain asked, moving to the pedestal. "It's not my natural eye color, but I'd probably use it...If it's okay with you, Isaac."  
Isaac kept staring at the eye that he had supposedly thought was staring back at him. He made no gesture or response to Cain.  
"You're attached to it, huh? Okay then. I won't take it. Besides, if I had another working eye, I wouldn't be able to be "Cain"! I would be...Like you. Haha.." Cain indicated with a toothy grin.  
Isaac smiled and turned his eyes to Cain.  
"Thank you." He said, reaching for the motionless eye. It popped out of sight before he could feel it with his hands and sighed, guessing the item was a fake. However, after several blinks of his two eyeballs, he felt something blink in the back of his head.  
"The eye went there, Isaac!" Magdalene claimed, pointing at the eye's new location. Isaac prodded the back of his head in search of it until he accidentally jabbed the eye.  
"Ouch!" He yelled in pain and astonishment. Tears came pouring out of the poked eyeball.  
"Be careful there!" Cain said, rubbing the eye for Isaac. "The eye's a part of you now. Somehow."  
Isaac laughed awkwardly, shrugging. Then, he realized the eye made him feel different and his mother came to mind. The eye was like hers, with long eyelashes and a reddish tint to it. No wonder he didn't feel much loneliness and had less fear pumping into him.  
Next, he noticed another boss door.  
With Isaac's predictions, he thought it was where an important enemy would have to be faced. Since this was the womb, the boy was sure his former self was in there; red, beating and alive like a heart. He was about to get rid of himself from the world and he was more than eager to do so.  
"No more problems...No more worries..." He said under his breath. "No more me."

What was it like to see your undeveloped breathing fetus beating along with the walls? Absolute terror. Isaac wasn't completely paralyzed, having some appropriate knowledge on knowing what he was going to face. But, he loathed himself far too greatly to react positively to his younger self. The fetus was so comfortable, bright and full of energy transferred through the cord. Isaac was jealous. He was scarred, scratches and wounds coating his weak body and he was dull colored, all except for the tears that attempted to bring his colors back. He wasn't going to stall any longer.  
He gulped in breaths of the moist air and landed his first attack upon the fetus. Its system responded to this with a violent twitch of the muscles and then, monsters were summoned. Bigger than before, they towered over the boy, a lust for torturing him filling their minds. That was what made them leap all at one towards Isaac. But that also made it much easier for him to slip out of the way before he got seriously harmed. Their burning gazes never left his vision as he tried dodging blows and rapid ones launching his way. He fought back, even more powerful than the last big battle of his own mother. His tears were like a mark, staining the enemies with permanent injuries. For Isaac, he knew they wouldn't have to fear that. They would soon disappear, like they do when defeated usually. He smiled and continued his destruction upon the beasts surrounding him. These few minutes of battling without a care and with a smile had him feeling like he was Judas. Then again, Judas was the closest to look like a replica of Isaac. Or was it all of the group? Isaac wasn't sure.  
He grabbed the remaining enemy and flung it with his remaining strength to the fetus. It almost cut off the cord doing so and the red being roared, shooting a cross of lasers. It rotated across the room and Isaac, while being burned gradually in the process, had done his best to stay in the safe lines. The fetus pumped itself up and down, shooting bloody orbs all around effortlessly. Isaac had a hard time dodging them all, but managed to stay alive through the assault. He panted quietly and scowled at the dangling mess of flesh and heart from above. "Be gone." He said under his tired voice, blinking several tears at his fetus. It certainly wasn't knocked down after that. It faced Isaac and blew many of its hovering orbs at him.  
His world once again went black.

But he sensed his body was still conscious. The only questions remaining was...Who was he? Where was he? He didn't know anymore. He opened a chest sitting next to him and saw himself change forms. He was Magdalene, then Cain, and Judas, and Samson, and even another girly form he hadn't knew of. The light illuminating the darkness from the chest died off rather quickly, leaving Isaac to stand in the darkness alone.  
"Who am I?" He spoke to the darkness, hoping for an answer. Though, none seemed to had arrived for the poor boy. He instead, waited patiently for death to pick him up from his feet and drag him away. He didn't want to, although he thought it was his end. "The beauty of death blossoms before you. Let it consume.." Said a voice leaking with flies. It belonged to a blue and rotten corpse, its eyes stitched into little X marks. The putrid smell of old flesh hung in the air.  
"The pain will penetrate, will kill, will set you free.." It continued to speak, pointing its loose finger at him. "Don't disappoint."  
Isaac was frozen in his tracks, but terrified. He took a jerk at his limbs and they didn't move. His breathing became forced.  
"No! ...Please no..." He replied, struggling. "I want to live! Please." The blue one chuckled, swinging its body to Isaac and setting an arm around him.  
"Let it happen. You can't fight this." It said, "Don't you want this? Just die."  
But Isaac wouldn't listen. He immediately rebelled against death and with his sudden will to live, he snapped out of the trance and broke into a sprint, running as far from the corpse as his feet would let him. His sight eventually shifted back to normal, or what was normal for him. He didn't care how worn out he was, he kept throwing his tears at the fetus and hoped it would go away. His energy was low and his head was spinning, but that was his least concern. He was reaching closer to victory. As much complicated the avoidance of its attacks were becoming, Isaac held on. Then its scream, that sounded like mother's, rang throughout the walls and floor at the final tears, breaking through it. Its body burst into an explosion of red, covering Isaac's front body with it. He wiped some off of his face and sniffed, plopping down on the floor.  
He had done it.  
He killed himself.  
But it was far from over.  
He warily stared at another trapdoor, darker than ever and a white light from above.  
he finally chose to ascend.


End file.
